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AN ADDRESS 


OF 

HENRY CLAY. 

\\ 

TO THE PUBLIC, 


CONTAINING 


(Siaia^iiasr unBuasotosr'x 


IN 


REFUTATION OF THE CHARGES AGAINST HIM 


MADE 


BY GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON, 


TOUCHING 


THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN 1825. 


LEXINGTON, KY: 
Reprinted by Edwin Bryant, 
intelligencer office. 

1837 . 










MEMO.—It was my intention to have published the testi¬ 
mony, now laid before the Public, at an earlier period, but un¬ 
avoidable delay, in the collection of it, has retarded the execu¬ 
tion of that intention. The letter of General Lafayette, and 
other important documents, have been but lately received; 
and others, which I had just reason to expect have not yet 
been obtained. H. C. 








-^ 0 ©— 

I hope no apology to the public is necessary for presenting 
■to it these pages. I am deceived if an ample justification of 
the act will not be found in the breast of every just and hon¬ 
orable man. If an officer of government should not be too 
senitive, neither should he be too callous, to assaults upon his 
character. When they relate to the wisdom or expediency of 
measures which he may have originated or supported,he should 
silently repose in the candor and good sense of the communi¬ 
ty, and patiently await the developments of time and experi¬ 
ence. But if his integrity be vitally assailed; if the basest and 
most dishonorable motives for his public conduct he ascribed 
to him; he owes it to the country, his friends, his family, and 
himself, to vindicate his calumniated reputation. Few men are 
so elevated that the shafts of calumny cannot reach them. These 
may securely trust to the invulnerable position which they have 
attained. The United States have perhaps hitherto produced 
but one man who could look down from his lofty height without 
emotion, upon the missiles and the malice of his enemies, for 
even he had his enemies, if the malignant character of charges, 
the acrimony with which they have been asserted and repeated, 
or the perseverance which has marked their propagation, could 
ever authorise an appeal to the public, I think I may truly s »y, 
that! have this authority. For three years I have been the object 
of ineessant abuse; every art, every species of misrepresenta¬ 
tion has been employed against me. The most innocent acts; 
acts o r ordinary social intercourse, and of common civility; of¬ 
fices of hospitality, even a passing salutation, have been mis¬ 
represented and perverted to my prejudice, with an unfairness 
unorecedented. Circumstances have been assumed, which 
had no existence, and inferences have been draw ? n from them 
which, had they been real, they would not have warranted. 
Besides, my enemies have themselves appealed to the public, 
exhibited their charges and summoned their witnesses to its 
bar. Ready now, and anxious as I am, and always have been, 
to submit any act of my public life to a full examination before 
any impartial and respectable tribunal whatever, I surely may 




4 


expect, at least, that I shall be patiently heard by that which 
my accusers themselves have selected. I assure them I will 
present no plea to the jurisdiction. 

But desirous as 1 naturally am, to repel the calumnies which 
have been directed against me, the public would have been 
spared the trouble of perusing this address, if General Jackson 
had not, in the course of the last spring and summer, given to 
them the open sanction of his name, in his letter to Mr. Bev¬ 
erly of the 6th of June last, he admits that, in inferring my 
privity to the proposition which he describes as borne by Mr. 
Buchanan, he may have done me injustice; and, in his address 
to the public on the 18th of July last, giving up the name of 
this gentleman, as his only witness, he repeats that he possibly 
may have done me injustice in assuming my authority for that 
proposition. He even deigns to honor me wilh a declaration 
of the pleasure which he will experience, if I should be able to 
acquit myself! Mr. Buchanan has been heard by the public; 
and I feel justified in asserting that the first impression of the 
whole nation was, as it is yet, that of every intelligent mind 
unbiassed by party prejudice, that his testimony fully exon¬ 
erated me, and demonstrated that Gen. Jackson, to say no 
more, had greatly misconceived the purport of the interview 
between them. And further, that so far as any thing improper 
was disclosed by Mr. B., touching the late presidential elec¬ 
tion, it affected General Jackson and his friends exclusively. 
He having manifestly injured me, speculation was busy, when 
Mr. Buchanan’s statement appeared, as to the course which 
the General would pursue, after his gratuitous expression of 
sympathy with me. There were not wanting many persons, 
who believed that his magnanimity would immediately prompt 
him publicly to retract his charge, and to repair the wrong 
W'hich he had done me. I did not participate in that just ex¬ 
pectation, and therefore felt no disappointment that it was not 
realized. Whatever other merits he may possess, 1 have not 
found among them, in the course of my relations with him, 
that of forbearing to indulge vindictive passions. His silent 
contemplation of, if not his positive acquiescence, in the most 
extraordinary interpretation of Mr. Buchanan’s statement that 
ever was given to human language, has not surprised me. If 
it had been possible for him to render me an act of spontane¬ 
ous justice, by a frank and manly avowal of his error, the 
testimony now submitted to the public might have been un¬ 
necessary. 

Although I feel fully persuaded that the community, under 


my peculiar circumstances, will see, without dissatisfaction, if 
not with cordial approbation, this further effort to rescue my 
character from unmerited imputations, I should nevertheless 
have remained silent, and cheerfully abide its decision, on the 
disclosures and explanations heretofore made, if I had no ad¬ 
ditional facts to offer to its consideration. But a body of 
highly important evidence has been collected, establishing some 
material circumstances not before generally known, and con¬ 
firming others of which the public is already in possession; 
and I have thought it due to the occasion not to withhold it. 

General Jackson having entirely failed to establish, by any 
affirmative evidence, either positive or presumptive, the charge 
which he thought proper to promulgate against me, it occurred 
to me that it might be possible, difficult as the task generally 
is to substantiate a negative, to adduce proof of that character, 
which would establish the groundless nature of his accusation. 
Prior to the appearance in the public prints of the letter from 
Mr. Carter Beverly to his friend in Fayetteville, dated the 8th 
of March last, I have never believed that General Jackson had 
countenanced the truth, or lent himself to the circulation, of 
the charge. I had indeed, long before, seen in one of the 
Nashville papers, assertions, injurious to me, which created 
some suspicions that they had emanated from him; but I dis¬ 
missed these suspicions as being altogether incompatible with 
the lofty character which I wished to believe that he possess¬ 
ed. When, however, I saw that letter, and the uncontradicted 
corroboration of its contents by the editor of the Washington 
Telegraph, I was reluctantly compelled to believe that he had 
given currency to the charge against me. In that letter, Mr. 
Beverly says: “I have just returned from Gen. Jackson’s— 
44 1 found a crowd of company with him. Seven Virginians 
44 were of the number. He gave me a most friendly reception, 
44 and urged me to stay some days longer with him. He told 
44 me this morning before all his company, in reply to a ques- 
44 tion I put to him concerning the election of John Quincy 
44 Adams to tho presidency, that Mr. Clay’s friends made a 
44 a proposition to his friends that, if they would promise for 
44 him not to put Mr. Adams into the seat of secretary of state, 
44 Clay and his friends would in one hour make him (Jackson) 
44 the president. He most indignantly rejected the propose 
44 tion, and declared he would not compromise himself; and 
44 unless most openly and fairly made the president, by con- 
44 gress, he never would receive it. He declares that he said 
44 to them that he would see the whole earth sink undo? him 


44 before he would bargain or intrigue for it.”—In the Wash¬ 
ington City Telegraph of the 26th day of April last, the editor 
states: k4 ln the Journal this morning we have another quo- 
44 tation from the Democratic Press, purporting to be the offi- 
44 cial contradiction by Mr. Clay of the statement of General 
44 Jackson relative to the overtures made to him as to the for- 
44 matian of his cabinet, previous to the late election of presi¬ 
dent. That General Jackson has spoken of such overtures 
44 we personally know .” In the same paper of the 28 th of April 
is the following paragraph: 44 The Journal is out this morning 
44 in reply to our remarks of Thursday, in which they affect to 
44 consider it highly improper in General Jackson to speak of 
44 the overtures made by Mr. Clay’s friends—and why? be- 
44 cause, says the Journal, he is a candidate against Mr. Adams. 
44 Now we stated explicitly that General Jackson spoke of these 
44 overtures in March 1825, before he was announced by the 
44 Legislature of Tennessee as a candidate.” 

The charge, if it did not originate with, having been thus 
sanctioned and circulated by Gen. Jackson,and implicating as 
well my friends as me, 1 thought it proper, having myself re¬ 
peatedly and positively denied its truth, to resort to the testi¬ 
mony of those gentlemen from the West whohad voted with me 
for Mr. Adams. Accordingly a friend of mine, Dr. Watkins, at 
my instance, addressed a circular to those gentlemen, during 
the last spring, inviting their attention to the Fayetteville let¬ 
ter, and inquiting if there were any truth in its averments.— 
And he has obtained from all of them but two, answers which 
are now presented to the public. These answers will be found 
in the Appendix, (see A) arranged according to the respective 
delegations from which they proceed. The writers of them are 
men of as high respectability as any in this Union. Where they 
are known, (and several of them are well known in various 
parts of the country,) their statements wall command unquali¬ 
fied belief. The excellence of their characters is so well es¬ 
tablished that a member of the House of Representatives, w'ho 
will not be presumed to be disposed to bestow on them unde¬ 
served encomium, felt himself constrained to hear his testimony 
to it. Mr. M’Duffie said in the House of Representatives, on 
the debate of the proposition to refer to a Committee the ap¬ 
peal which 1 made on the occasion of Mr. Kremer’s Card:— 

44 Let me add one word to the friends of Mr. Clay on this door, 

44 (and there are no members on this floor, for whom, generally, 

44 1 feel more respect.) I have been informed that some of his 
44 friends suppose that the amendment I have offered contains 


7 

4< something which is intended to bear harshly upon them. Not 
u so, not so. My object is merely to confine the charges made' 
“ against the honorable Speaker to the very words of the letter 
“ of the gentleman from Pennsylvania.” This just but volun¬ 
tary tribute was expressed on the 4th February, 1825, (see 
National Intelligencer, 5th of the same month.) On the 31st 
March, 1826, more than thirteen months after, when the amend¬ 
ment to the Constitution was under discussion, proposing a 
new mode of electing a President, the same gentleman is re¬ 
ported to have said: “Now I have the greatest respect for those 
“ gentlemen who were the personal and political friends of 
“ Mr. Clay in the late election of President. Next io my own 
“ personal friends , there are none whom I estimate more highly .” 
(See National Intelligencer 2 d May, 1 826.) These answers are 
not only entitled to the fullest credit, from the high respecta- 
bili 13 of the characters of those gentlemen, but deserve great 
confidence from the fact that they have been respectively pre¬ 
pared by themselves without any concert whatever, so far as I 
know or believe, and when they were at their several resi¬ 
dences, widely separated from each other. 

The members from Ohio who voted for Mr. Adams were Gen. 
McArthur, Gen.Vance, Gen. Beecher. Mr. Sloane, Mr.Wright, 
NXr. Vinton, Mr. McLean, (brother of the Postmaster Geneial) 
Mr. Whittlesey, Mr. Bartley and Mr. Patterson. From each of 
these gentlemen it will be seen that an explicit and unqualified 
negative is given to the statements of the Fayetteville letter. 
Gen. McArthur declares them to be “totally destitute of founda¬ 
tion. He alledges the fact to have been that “the Ohio delega- 
“ tion (or at least a large majority of them) were the first of Mr. 
“ Clay’s friends who came to the determination of votingfor Mr. 
“ Adams; and that too without having ascertained Mr. Clay's 
“ views on the subject." He states that some of the friends ofGen. 
Jackson used the language of menace, whilst other of them em¬ 
ployed that of persuasion to prevail on my friends to vote for 
the General; and that they appeared to be willing to make any 
promises which they thought “would induce the friends of Mr. 

“ Clay to vote for General Jackson. ’ 

Gen. Vance states, “1 say without hesitation that I never 
“ heard of those, or any other terms being thought of, as an 
“ equivalent for the vote we were about to give; nor do I be- 
“ lieve that the friends of Mr. Clay, or Mr. Clay himself, ever 
“ thought of making or suggesting any terms to any one of the 
“ parties, as the grounds of our acceptance or rejection of either 
“ of the three candidates returned to the House of Represen- 


8 


« talives.” He continues: “as one of the original friends of 
44 Mr. Clay, I was in the habit of free and unreserved conver- 
44 sation both with him and his other friends, relative to that 
44 election, and I am bold to say that 1 never heard a whisper 
44 of any thing like a condition on which our vote was to be 
44 given, mentioned either by Mr. Clay himself or any of his 
44 friends, at any time or under any circumstances.” 

Gen. Beecher testifies that he did not “know that a friend or 
44 the frienis of Mr. Clay ever made any proposition to the 
44 friends of Gen. Jackson, respecting the election ot Mr. Adams 
44 as President in any way, or as respecting Gen. Jackson not 
44 putting Mr. Adams into the seat of Secretary of State in 
“ case he (Jackson) should be elected President. Neither am 
44 I acquainted with a friend of Mr. Clay that would consent 
44 to be an agent in such a degrading transaction. Nor can I 
44 admit that the friends of Mr. Clay had. so contemptible an 
44 opinion of each other or of Mr. Clay, as to suppose that the 
44 appointment or non-appointment of any man to any office 
44 would influence them in the discharge of an important public 
44 duty.” 

Mr. Sloane declares, “that 1 have always supposed myself 
44 in the entire confidence of all Mr. Clay’s supporters and 
44 friends, who were members of Congress at the time of the 
44 Presidential election; and that I have no hesitation in saying 
44 that I never heard the most distant insinuation from any of 
44 them that they would vote for Gen. Jackson, if there was any 
44 prospect of choosing either of the other candidates. That 
44 any of the friends of Mr. Clay in Congress ever made any 
44 proposition of conditions, on which their votes would depend, 
44 to the friends of Gen. Jackson or. any other person, I do not 
44 believe.” “And as to Mr. Clay’s accepting an appointment 
44 under him, they would to a man most certainly have opposed 
44 ii. I judge of this f otn the opinion which I know they en- 
44 tertained of Gen. Jackson’s want of capacity, and the fact 
44 that it was not until some time after the choice of Mr. Adams 
44 that they agreed to advise Mr. Clay to accept of the office 
44 he now holds.” 44 In shori I feel confident that the whole is 
44 a vile and infamous falsehood, such as honorable men would 
“ not resort to, more especially after having upon full consulta- 
“ tion and deliberate consideration declined an investigation of 
44 the whole matter before a committee of the House of Repre- 
44 sentatives.” 

Mr. Wright states, “I can only say sincerely and unequivo- 
44 cally, that I do not know or believe that any proposition of 


9 


“ the kind mentioned as from Gen. Jackson, was ever made to 
“ the friends of Gen. Jackson by the friends of Mr. Clay or any 
“ of them; and that I am wholly ignorant of any conditions of 
“ any sort being proposed to any one by the friends of Mr. 

“ Clay, on a compliance, with which their vote was made to 
“ depend.” 

Mr. Vinton is equally explicit. He says, “having been one 
“ of the friends ot Mr. Clay who voted for Mr. Adams, I cheer- 
“ fully avail myself of this opportunity to sav, that I have no 
“ knowledge whatever of the above mentioned proposition or 
“ any other proposition having been made to Gen. Jackson or 
“ any of his friends, by Mr. Clay or any of his friends, as a 
“ condition upon which his or their vote was to be given to Gen. 
“ Jackson for the Presidency.” He subjoins that,“It was well 
“ known to my constituents for many months previous to the 
“ late Presidential election that; after Mr.Clay, Mr. Adams was 
“ my next choice among the distinguished individuals,who were 
“ then before the people of the United States, as candidates for 
“ that exalted station.” 

Mr. McLean declares, “that no such proposition was ever 
“ made within my knowledge, nor have 1 any cause to believe 
“ that conditions of any sort were made, at any time, by the 
“ friends of Mr. Clay to any person, on a compliance with 
“ which their vote was made to depend.” 

Mr. Whittlesey avers that “I do not know or believe that 
“ any proposition was ever made by any of Mr. Clay’s friends 
“ to those of Gen.. Jackson on the morning of the Presidential 
“ election, or at any other time, having any bearing on the can- 
“ didate to be selected from the three returned to the house, 
“ nor do I know or believe that any conditions of any sort were 
“ proposed by the friends of Mr. Clay to any person, on a com- 
“ pliance with which 'heir vote was made to depend ,” “but I do 
“ believe that the assertion made by Gen. Jackson, as reported 
“ by a highly respectableVirginian,and all ofthe charges of a like 
“ character, imputing either to Mr. Adams or to Mr. Clay, or to 
“ their friends, any improper, inconsistent, corrupt fraudulent 
“ conduct,on that interesting and momentous occasion,are base 
“ slanders, known to be such by those who put them in circu- 
“ lation,” 

Mr. Bartley expresses the belief in justice to Gen. Jackson, 
that he never made the declaration alluded to by Mr. Beverly, 
“ For the General was there when the election took place, and 
“ must inevitably have known that such a statement would car- 
“ ry falsehood on the very face of it.” He adds “I was in the 


]0 


House, 1 believe every day of that session, at which the Pres- 
4 j ident was elected; and have no hesitation in saying that so far 
4 from making any proposition, or overture, were the friends of 
f Mr. Clay, in favor of the General, that had the friends of the 
44 General, made such a proposition we would have considered 
4 4 it as an indignity offered to our integrity and understanding.” 

Mr. Patterson is brief but pointed. He says: 44 I frankly 
f 6 state to .you that if any such proposition as you state was made 
44 by the fi iends of Mr. Clay to those of Gen. Jackson, I had no 
44 knowledge of it, and! was one of the friends of Clay. I 
I 44 therefore believe the report to be without an honest founda- 
66 tion.” 

In passing from the testimony of the delegation from Ohio 
to that of Kentucky, we shall find it to be not less irresistible 
and decisive in negativing the declaration of Gen. Jackson, 
communicated to the public through Mr. Beverly. The Ken¬ 
tucky delegation consisted of twelve members; eight of whom, 
Mr. Trimble, Mr. F. Johnson, Gen. Metcalfe, Mr. Letcher, Mr. 
Buckner, Mr. Thompson, Mr. White, and myself, voted for Mr. 
Adams. From six of them, statements have been received. 
That from Mr. White has not reached this city ; but 1 am jus¬ 
tified in stating that he has repeatedly, within his district after 
his return to Kentucky borne unqualified testimony to the false¬ 
hood of all charges of corruption in the election, and especially 
to the propriety of my conduct; and I have no doubt that he 
will whenever called upon repeat the same testimony. 

Mr. Trimble says, 44 I do not know of my. own knowledge, 
44 nor have Tbeen informed by others, that offers, propositions, 

44 or overtures such as are spoken of by Gen. Jackson in his let- 
64 ter to Beverly, or similar thereto, or of any kind whatever, 

44 were made by Mr. Adams or his friends, to Mr. Clay or his 
44 friends; or bv Mr. Clay or his friends, to Gen. Jackson or his 
44 friends. I do not know nor do I believe that Mr. Adams or 
44 his friends made overtures or offers, directly or indirectly, to 
* 4 Mr. Clay or his friends to make him Secretary of State, if 
44 he and his friends would unite in aid of the election of Mr. 

44 Adams. Nor do I know or believe that any pledge or pro- 
44 mise of any kind was made by Mr. Adams or his friends to 
44 Mr. Clay or his friends, to procure his aid in the election. 

4 T never heard from Mr. Clay, or any of his friends, or any 
44 one else that he was willing to vote for Gen. Jackson, if the 
44 General would say, or any of his friends for him, that Mr. 

44 Adams should not be continued Secretary of State. Nor do 
44 I know or believe that Mr. Clay ever expressed a willingness, 



11 


“ or any of his friends for him, to support or vote for General 
“ Jackson, if he could obtain the office of Secretary of State 
44 under him.” 

‘ f 1 do not know or believe that any overtures or offers of any 
u kind were made by Mr. Clay or his friends to Mr. Adams or 
44 his friends to vote for him or support him if he would make 
44 Mr. Clay Secretary ofState; or to Gen. Jackson or his friends 
44 to vote for him or support him, if he could obtain the office of 
44 Secretary of State under him; nor do l believe Mr. Clay 
44 would have taken office under him if he had been elected.” I 
shall hereafter have occasion to notice other parts of the letter 
of Mr.Trimblefrom which the preceding extract has been token. 

Mr. F. Johnson states in his answer to Dr. Watkins, 44 1 have 
44 no hesitation however in answering your enquiries. After 
“writing the above extract, you say to me: If such a proposition 
44 were ever made by the friends of Mr. Clay to those of Gen. 
44 Jackson, it must have been known to many persons, and the 
44 fact therefore may be ascertained. May I ask the favor of 
44 you to inform me whether you know or believe any such 
44 proposition was ever made, or whether conditions of any sort 
44 were made by the friends of Mr. Clay to any person on com- 
44 plianee with which their vote was to depend?” 

44 To the first branch of the enquiry, my answer is that I have 
44 no knowledge of any such proposition; nor do I believe any 
44 such was ever made. To the second I answer, that I neither 
44 know of, nor do I believe that any conditions of any sort 
44 were made by the friends of Mr. Clay to any person, on 
44 compliance with which their vote was to depend.” 

Gen. Metcalfe, with his characteristic firmness and frankness, 
says: 44 I have to state that I never heard or thought of such a 
44 proposition until the letter of the highly respectable Virgin- 
44 ian appeared in the public prints.” He proceeds, “As one 
44 of the friends of Mr. Clay, I enter the most solemn protest 
44 against the right of the General, through his organ the highly 
44 respectable Virginian, or otherwise, to say that I w r ould have 
44 assisted in making him President on the condition stated. 
44 On the contrary, if I could have been made to believe that 
44 Gen. Jackson would not have offered to Mr. Adams the place 
“ which he had filled with so much ability under Mr. Monroe, 
44 that belief would have constituted in my mind a strong addi- 
44 tional objection to the General’s success—if it is intended to 
44 import the belief that Mr. day’s friends were desirous of 
“ obtaining the appointment for him to the exclusion of Mr. 
44 Adams or otherwise under Gen. Jackson, as one of his 

B 


12 


44 friends, i pronounce it a base and infamous assault upon the 
44 motives and honor, so far as I am concerned or believe, of 
44 those who did not choose to support him for the Presidency.” 
44 In reply to your second enquiry, I have to say that if con- 
44 ditions of any sort were ever made by the friends of Mr. 

44 Clay to any person, on a compliance with which their vote 

45 was made to depend, I know nothing of it.” 

Judge Letcher, the only member of Congress who boarded 
in the same house with me, during the - session at which the 
Presidential election was made, testifies: “I know of no such 
44 proposition or intimation, nor have I knowledge of any fact 
44 or circumstance which would induce me to believe that Mr. 
44 Clay’s friends, or any one of them, ever made such a proposi- 
44 tion to the friends of Gen. Jackson.” 

Mr. Thompson says: 44 I know of no proposition made by the 
44 friends of Mr. Clay to the friends of Gen. Jackson to make 
44 him President if he would not select Mr. Adams to the seat 
44 ot Secretary; and I do not believe a proposition of any kind 
44 was made, and I expect if the friend of the General should 
44 ever speak on the subject, he will be a second Kremer.” 

Mr. Buckner testifies; “In answer to your enquiries on this 
44 subject, 1 will remark that i have no reason to believe that 
44 any proposition was made. Indeed no proposition of any de- 
44 scription, relating to the election of President was made, so 
“far as I know or believe, by Mr. Clay’s friends to those of 
44 Gen. Jackson, or of any other person.” 

Mr. Scott, the member from Missouri, states that ‘‘neither 
44 Mr. Adams nor his friends ever made any promises or over- 
44 tures to me nor did they hold out to me anv inducements of 
44 any sort, kind or character whatever, to procure me to vote 
44 for Mr. Adams. Nor did Mr. Adams or any of his friends 
44 ever say or insinuate who would be placed at the head of the 
44 Department of State, or any other Department, in the event 
44 that Mr. Adams should be elected. Nor'do 1 believe any 
44 propositions were made to Mr. Clay or his friends, by Mr. 

44 Adams or his friends. If there were I know it not.” “I 
44 never made to General Jackson or to any of his friends any 
44 proposition,in reference to the Presidential election, either as 
44 regarded the appointment of Mr. Clay or any other person to 
44 office, or the exclusion of Mr. Adams or any other person from 
44 office. I was neither spoken to by Mr. Clay, or any of his 
44 friends, about making an v proposition to Gen. Jackson or his 
44 friends of any kind whatsoever, nor did I ever hear it insin- 
94 uatea or hinted, that any proposition was made or intended 


13 


to be made, by Mr. Clay or bis friends to Gen. Jackson or 
his fi lends, or to any other candidate or his friends, for or re¬ 
lating to the 1 residency. And 1 do believe, had any propos- 
u ition been made or intended to have been made by Mr. Clay 
oi his Inends, from my intimacy and constant intercourse 
with them, I should have known or heard thereof.” 

Messrs. Gurley and Brent were the two members who gave 
the vote ot Louisiana to Mr. Adams. Mr. Gurley declares, 
that I have no knowledge of any propositions having been 
“ made by the friends of Mr. Clay or any of them to the friends 
44 of Gen. Jackson or to any other person, in relation to the 
44 election of president, or the proposition of conditions of any 
44 sort, on a compliance with which their vote was made tode- 
44 pend. I believe the charge wholly destitute of truth.” 

Col. I’rent says: “In allusion to the Fayetteville letter I can- 
44 not express the indignant feelings it excited. It is the fabri- 
4< cation of a desperate man, who to obtain his object dares to 
44 assert what he knows to be false. You ask me to say, wheth- 
44 er I know or believe that such a proposition was ever made, 
44 or whether conditions of any sort were proposed by the 
44 friends of Mr- Clay to any one, on the compliance with 
44 which their vote was made to depend. No honorable man 
44 can believe for a moment that such a proposition was ever 
44 made, or such a condition stipulated. 1 was a friend of Mr. 

44 Clay’s throughout the contest, I was in the confidence of all 
44 his friends, and 1 declare to God that I never heard of such 
44 a thing until it was asserted by the disappointed adherents of 
44 Gen. Jackson. I am not only ignorant of any such arrange- 
44 rnents, but do not believe they ever existed.” 

Thus there is now before the public the united evidence of 
the delegation from every Western state whose vote was con¬ 
ferred on Mr. Adams, except that of Mr. Cook, the representa¬ 
tive from Illinois. A long and lingering illness, terminating in 
the death of that gentleman prevents the submission of his. 
But it is well known that Mr. Adams was his choice, through¬ 
out the whole presidential canvass. Although there existed 
between him and myself good will and respectful intercourse^ 
he never was politically nor personally my friend. 

Including Mr. White, the public has the evidence of twenty 
different members of congress, embracing all my friends, from 
the Western states, who voted for Mr. Adams. Their attention 
was chiefly directed, in the preparation of their respective 
statements, to the Fayetteville letter, and it is to them, that 
their testimony principally applies. On the point, they all con- 


14 


cur in pronouncing the most unqualified negative, and, on other 
points, several of them are not less explicit. Is it creditable, 
is it consistent with the ordinary operations of human nature, 
that these gentlemen, without any personal interest or motive 
whatever, should have first basely given their concurrence to 
dishonorable overtures, for my sole benefit, and then should 
unanimously agree in falsifying themselves? 

In the published circular w'hich, in March 1825,1 addressed 
to my constituents, I remarked u at that early period” (early in 
November 1824) “I stated to Dr. Drake, one of the prolessors 
“ in the medical school of Transylvania University, and to 
“ John J. Crittenden, Esq. of Frankfort, my determination to 
u support Mr. Adams in preference to Gen. Jackson.” 1 did 
not at that time, recollect, nor do I probably now, all the occa¬ 
sions on which I expressed, in conversation, my opinion of the 
unfitness of General Jackson for the Presidency, and my pref¬ 
erence of either of the other candidates. I remember distinctly 
the conversation I had held with Dr. Drake and John J. Crit¬ 
tenden, Esq., and therefore referred to them. In several in¬ 
stances, similar conversations have been since brought to my 
recollection by gentlemen with whom, or in whose presence 
they occurred; and it is irom a voluntary and friendly commu¬ 
nication of the purport of them, that I am now enabled to lay 
before the public a considerable portion of the mass of testi¬ 
mony, on that particular topic which is now presented. (See 
Appendix B.] 

This testimony, established that, on various occasions and 
times, beginning in Kentucky as early as about the 1st of Oc¬ 
tober, 1824, and continued in the City of Washington, down 
to the period when my determination to vote for Adams was 
generally known in this city, I uniformly expressed my con¬ 
viction of Gen. Jackson’s want of qualification, and my fixed 
resolution not to vote for him, if I were called upon to give a 
vote. These sentiments, long cherished, were deliberately ex¬ 
pressed, to gentlemen of the highest respectability; most of 
them my personal and particular friends, in.all of whose esti¬ 
mation 1 must have stood dishonored, if l had voted for Gen. 
Jackson contrarily to my declared purpose. This purpose was 
avowed immediately preceding my departure from Kentucky 
to attend Congress, and immediately on my arrival hereafter 
the termination of the journey. David Trimble, Esq. states 
that, about the first of October, 1824, he held a conversation 
with me at Frankfort, Kentucky, on the subject and prospects 
of the pending election, which he details minutely, and that in 


15 


the course of it I said “that J could not consistently with my 
44 principles vote for General Jackson, under any possible cir- 
64 cumstances .” I urged to him all the objections which weigh¬ 
ed on my mind, and which have been so often stated, and es¬ 
pecially that which is founded upon Gen. Jackson’s possession 
of military pretensions only. And, in reference to an ob¬ 
jection which Mr. Trimble understood me as entertaining 
against Mr. Adams, growing out of the negotiations at Ghent, 
Mr. Trimble states that I remarked that it had been 44 greatly 
44 magnified by the friends of his competitors” “for electioneer- 
44 ing purposes;” 44 that it ought to have no influence in the vote 
44 which he might be called upon to give; that, if he was weak 
44 enough to allow his personal feelings to influence his public 
44 conduct,there would be no change in his mind on that account, 
44 because he was then on much worse terms with Gen, Jack- 
44 son about the Seminole war, than he could ever be with Mr. 

44 Adams about the treaty of Ghent; that in the selection of a 
44 chief magistrate for the Union he would endeavor to disregard 
44 all private feelings, and look entirely to the interests of the 
44 country and the safety of its institutions.” 

It appears from the letter of Mr. Robert Trimble, (one of the 
associate Just ices of the Supreme Court of the U. Spates,) which 
accompanies that of Mr. D. Trimble, that the latter had avowed 
to the former, as early as February or March 1824, his prefer¬ 
ence of Mr. Adams to either of the three candidates who were 
actually returned to the House of Representatives. 

Col. Davidson (the Treasurer of the State of Kentucky, and 
a man of unblemished honor and unquestionable veracity,)states 
that during a visit which I made to Frankfort in the fall of 1824, 
and he thinks only a few days prior to my departure from Ken¬ 
tucky, to attend Congress (it must therefore have been early 
in November, as 1 left home before, or about the tenth of that 
month) he had a conversation with me about the then pending 
Presidential election in the course of which he remarked, that 
I would have some difficulty to encounter in making a selection 
amongst the candidates jf I should be excluded from the House. 
To which I replied; 44 I suppose not much; in that event I will 
44 endeavor do my duty faithfully.” He adds that I stated in 
the course of the conversation; 44 I cannot conceive of any 
44 event that can possibly happen which could induce me to 
44 support the election of Gen. Jackson to the Presidency. For 
44 if 1 had no other objection, his want of the necessary quali- 
44 fication would be sufficient.” These remarks made a strong 
and lasting impression on Col. Davidson’s mind, and when the 


1G 


resolutions were before the Legislature, requesting the delega¬ 
tion to vote for Gen. Jackson, Col. Davidson informed several 
of his friends of the conversation with me, and that he was con¬ 
vinced 1 would not support Gen. Jackson. He communicated 
the substance of this conversation to Geo. Robertson, Lsq., the 
speaker of the house of representatives of Kentucky, who con¬ 
curred with him, that 1 could not consistently under any cir¬ 
cumstances vote for Gen. Jackson. When the same resolutions 
were before the senate (of which Col. Davidson was then a 
member) he rose in his place and opposed them, and among the 
views which he presented to that body, he stated that all the 
resolutions which they could pass during the whole session would 
not induce me to abandon what Iconceived to be my duty , and that 
he knew I could not concur with the majority of the Legislature 
on that subject . 

John J. Crittenden, Esq. (who is referred to in the circular to 
my constituents, but whose statement has never before been 
exhibited to the public,) testifies, “that some time in the fall of 
“ 1824, conversing upon the subject of the then pending presi- 
“ dential election, and speaking in reference to your exclusion 
“ from the contest, and to your being called upon to decide 
“ and vote between the other candidates who might be returned 
“ to the house of representatives, you declared that you could 
“ not, or that it was impossible for you to ‘vote for Gen. Jack- 
“ son in any event.’ My impression is that the conversation 
“ took place at Capt. Weisiger’s tavern in this town [Frankfort, 

“ Ky.J not very long before you went on to Congress in the 
“ fall preceding the last presidential election, and that the de- 
“ claration made by you as above stated was elicited by some 
“ intimation that fell from me of my preference for Gen. Jack- 
“ son over all the other candidates except yourself.” 

So unalterably fixed was my resolution prior to my depar¬ 
ture from Kentucky. I have no doubt that in my promiscuous 
and unreserved intercourse among my acquaintances in that 
state, others not recollected by me could bear testimony to 
the undeviating and settled determination of my mind. It 
will be now seen that after, and immediately on my arrival at 
the city of Washington, I adhered to this purpose, and perse¬ 
vered in it until it was executed by the actual deposite of my 
vote in the ballot box. 

In a day or two after I reached the city, and on several 
other occasions, I had long and unreserved conversations with 
Mr. Johnston, senator from Louisiana, to an account of which, 
as given in his letter in the Appendix, I invite particular atten- 


17 


tion. The first was on the Saturday or Sunday before the 
commencement of congress in 1824, and after I had seen Mr. 
Crawford, I stated to Mr. Johnston that, notwithstanding all 
I had heard. 1 had no idea of his actual condition, and that it 
was out ot the question to think of making him president. We 
conversed fully on the respective pretensions of Mr. Adams 
and Gen. Jackson, and after drawing a parallel between them, 
I concluded by expressing a preference for Mr. Adams, which 
“turned principally on his talents and experience in civil af¬ 
fairs.” After the return of the votes of .Louisiana, and alter 
the resolutions of the general assembly of Kentucky were re¬ 
ceived, Mr. Johnston states my adherence to that preference. 
He concludes by observing “that no fact ever came to my 
“ knowledge that could in the slightest degree justify the charge 
“ which has been exhibited. On the contrary, I know that 
“ your opinion did not undergo any change from the time I first 
“ saw you on your return to Washington, that is, prior to the 
“ meeting of Congress.” During the present summer, two 
gentlemen in the state of Mississippi voluntarily told Mr. John¬ 
ston that they heard me express a decided preference of Mr. 
Adams, at Lexington, before I left home for Washington. 

Although not immediately connected with the main object 
of this address, I think it proper to refer to a part of Mr. John¬ 
ston’s letter, as sustaining two several statements made by me 
on former occasions. I stated in my address to my constitu¬ 
ents that, if I had received the vote of Louisiana, and been one 
of the three candidates returned, I had resolved, at a time 
when there was vrvery probability of my receiving it, that I 
would not allow my name, in consequence of the small num¬ 
ber of votes by which it would be carried into the House, it I 
were returned, to constitute an obstacle to an election. Mr. 
Johnston says: “You replied that you would not permit the 
“country to be disturbed a day on your account; that you 
“ would not allow your name to interfere with the prompt de- 
“ cision of the question.” I stated at Noble’s Inn, near Lex¬ 
ington, last summer, that I ’had requested a Senator, when my 
nomination as Secretary of State was acted upon, to move a 
Committee of Inquiry, if it should appear to him necessary. 
Mr. Johnston says: “After your nomination was confirmed, 
“ you informed me, you had requested General Harrison to 
“ move for a Committee in the Senate, if any thing occurred 
“ to make it necessary. I replied that I did not think any 
“ thing had occurred to require a Committee on your part.” 

Mr. Bouligny, the other Senator from Louisiana, between 


18 


whom and myself a friendly intimacy has existed throughout 
our acquaintance, makes a staiemant, which is worthy of pe¬ 
culiar notice. He bore to me the first authentic information 
which I received of the vote of Louisiana, and consequently of 
my exclusion from the- House. And yet, in our first inter¬ 
view, in answer to an inquiry which he made, I told him, with¬ 
out hesitation, “that I should vote for Mr. Adams in prefer¬ 
ence to Gen. Jackson.” 

With the present Secretary of War I had a conversation in 
the early part of the session of 1824-5, on returning from a 
dinner, at the Columbia College, at which we both were, in 
company with Gen. Lafayette and others. The day of the din¬ 
ner was the 15th of December, which may be verified by a re¬ 
sort to the National Intelligencer. In the course of that con¬ 
versation, Mr. Barbour stales that he expressed himself, in the 
event of the contest being “narrowed down to Mr. Adams and 
44 Gen. Jackson, in favor, of Mr. Adams, and Mr. Clay express- 
44 ed a coincidence of opinion.” 

It will be recollected that Gen. Lafayette was in Washing¬ 
ton during the greater pai t of the session of the Presidential 
election. He mentioned the subject to me with his character¬ 
istic delicacy. Without seeking to influence my vote, or mani¬ 
festing the least disposition to interfere in the election, he made 
a simple inquiry of me, which I am quite sure was prompted 
by the deep interest which he felt in every tiling that concerns 
the welfare of this.country. 1 am happy to be able now to 
submit the statement of the General of what passed between 
us on that occasion. He says: “ Blessed as I have lately 
44 been with the welcome, and conscious as it is my happy lot 
44 to be of the affection and confidence of all parties and all 
“men in every party within the United States, feelings which 
44 I most cordially reciprocate, 1 ever have thought myself 
44 bound to avoid taking any part in local or personal divisions. 
44 Indeed, if I thought that in these matters my influence could 
44 be of any avail, it should be solely exerted to deprecate, not 
44 by far, the free, republican, and full discussion of principles 
44 and candidates, but those invidious slanders which, although 
44 they are happily repelled by the good sense, the candor, and 
44 in domestic instances, by the delicacy of the American peo- 
44 pie, to give abroad incorrect and disparaging impressions. 
44 Yet, that line of conduct from which I must not deviate ex- 
44 cept in imminent cases now out of the question, does not 
44 imply a forgetfulness of facts nor a refusal to state them oc¬ 
casionally. My remembrance concurs with your own on 


19 


M this point, that in the latter end of December, either before 
44 or after my visit to Annapolis, you being out of the presi- 
44 dential candidature, and after having'expressed my above- 
44 mentioned motives of forbearance, T, by way of a confiden- 
44 tial exception, allowed myself to put a simple unqualified 
44 question, respecting your electioneering guess, and your* in- 
44 tended vote. Your answer was that in your opinion, the ae- 
44 tual state ot health ol Mr. Crawford had limited the contest 
44 to a choice between Mr. Adams and Gen. Jackson, that a 
44 claim founded on military achievements did not meet your 
44 preference, and that you had .concluded to vote for Mr. 

44 Adams. Such has been, if not the literal wording, at least 
44 the precise sense of a conversation which jt would have been 
44 inconsistent for me to carry farther and not to keep a secret, 
44 while a recollection of it, to assist your.memory I should not 
44 now deny, not only to you as rny friend, but to any man in 
44 a similar situation.” 

General Lafayette was not able to state, with absolute pre¬ 
cision, the date of the conversation between us, nor can I un¬ 
dertake to specify the day, although I retain a perfect, recol¬ 
lection of the conversation. It was, he says, “in the latter end 
of December, either before or after my visit to Annapolis, you 
being out of the presidential candidature.” He left Washing¬ 
ton on the 16th for Annapolis, and returned on the 21st, (See 
National Intelligencer.) If the Conversation took place before 
•that excursion, it must have been on or prior to the 16th of 
December. But he says I was out of the 44 presidential can¬ 
didature.” Whether 1 should be returned to the house or not, 
was not ascertained until the vote of Louisiana was known. 
Rumors had reached this city of'the.issue of it, previous to the 
20th of the month; but the first certain intelligence of it was 
brought here by Senator B-mligny on the 20th, according to 
his .recollection. On Gen. Lafayette’s return from Annapolis, 
the probability is that the subject pf the Presi lential election 
was a common topic of conversation, as information had then 
just reached the city from Louisiana. I called to see him im¬ 
mediately after His return, and as it had been very confidently 
expected that I would receive the vote of.Louisiana, it is quite 
likely that it was on that occasion that he held the conversa¬ 
tion with me. This would fix the day to have been prior to 
Christmas. But whatever was the actual day, there can be 
no doubt that it was before the memorable interview between 
Gen. Jackson and Mr. Buchanan. 

Here then, is an unbroken chain of testimony, commencing 

0 


i 


20 


early in October 1824, and extending to nearly the end of the 
year, establishing bevond all controversy, my fixed and un¬ 
wavering decision not to vote for Gen. Jackson. This purpose 
is deliberately manifested at different periods, in different places, 
and to distinguished individuals who would have been the last in 
society that 1 should have thought of deceiving. This testimony 
stands unopposed, and, with truth, cannot be opposed by a soli¬ 
tary individual. There does not exist a human being, and if the 
dead could be recalled, one could not be summoned from the 
grave, that could truly testify that J ever expressed or ever inti¬ 
mated the remotest intention to vote for Gen. Jackson, in any 
contingency whatever. As to him, mv mind was never for a 
moment in doubt or difficulty. And whatever personal predilec¬ 
tion I might have entertained-fof Mr.Crawford.of whose state of 
health there were S' ch opposite representations in the public 
prints, when 1 saw him myself, there w is no alternative in my 
judgment but that which I embraced. 1 have reason to believe 
that General Jackson and his friends cherished no expectation 
that I would vote lor him. General (.-all, the then delegate 
from Florida, was liis a-dent and intimate friend, and had been 
his a«d; They travelled together on their journey to Wash¬ 
ington City in the fall of 1824. In a letter from Gen. Jackson 
to Mr. Eaton, which is contained in the 6Gth page of the 28lh 
vol. Niles’s Register, he states that General Call was with hum 
on that jturney, and he refers to him as corroborating bis own 
memory relative to a transaction at Washington (Pennsylva¬ 
nia.) Jt is presumable that the election witli its prospects and 
hopes must have frequently formed a subject of conversation 
on the journey. It can scarcely be doubted that Gen. Call 
was v eil acquainted with General Jackson's views and expec¬ 
tations. At a tavern at Rockville, in Maryland, about fflteen 
miles from this city, during that same journey, General Call 
and several other gentbmeri engaged in conversation about 
the presidential election. John Braddock, Esq., (a gentleman 
not known to me, hut who, I understand, is a merchant of great 
respectability,) was present; and he states that “when the 
vote which Mi. Clay would probably give was spoken of 
“ General Call declared that the friends of General Jackson did’ 

“ not expect Mr. Clay to vote for him. and if he did so, it would 
“ be an act of duplicity on his pdrt.” (See Appendix C.) 

In General Jackson’s address io the public of the 18th of 
July last, touching bis previous statements to Mr. Beverly 
and communicating the name of Mr. Buchanan, ns the gentle¬ 
man who bore the imaginary overture, he says, “ the origin— 


21 

“ the beginning of this matter was at my own house and fire- 
t s,de ». w here surely a freeman may be permitted to speak on 
' topics, without having ascribed to him improper de- 

signs. From this statement, the fair inference is, that Gen. 
Jackson intends to aver lhat he had never before spoken of 
his charge* against me. The “origin—the beginning” of this 
matter was, he says, at his own fireside: that is, it was in 
Maich 1 8when, according to Mr. Beverly, before a crowd 
of company, of which there were no less than seven Virgin¬ 
ians, he proclaimed his accusation. The obligation to observe 
the pi inciples of honor, and to speak with scrupulous veracity 
of all men, and especially of our'Competitors, is unaffected by 
time or place. The domestic fireside has no privilege which 
exempts a man of honor from the force of that obligation. 
On the contrary there, more than in any other place, in the 
midst of one’s family, should examples be exhibited of truth, 
of charity, and of kindness towards our fellow men. All the 
surrounding circumstances tend to soothe the vindictive pas¬ 
sions, and to inculcate moderation. Whether the privileges 
of the domestic circle have been abused by General Jackson 
. or not, in mv instance, let the impartial world decide. The 
attitude in which he stood before the American people, and 
the subsisting relations between him and me, one might have 
supposed would prompt him to the observance of the greatest 
delicacy. Has he practised it? il indeed, in an ungarded 
moment of hilarity, amidst his convivial friends, in his own 
domicil, he fad incautious!; touched a subject, respecting 
which he might have been expected to prescribe to himself the 
most profound silence, he,might possibly find, not any justifi¬ 
cation, but some excuse for his indiscretion, in the public liber¬ 
ality. But what must be the general surprise when the fact 
turns out to be, that the “origin—the beginning” of tin's mat¬ 
ter with Gen. Jackson, was not, as tie alleges, in March 1827, 
but at least two years before; not, as he also alleges, at his 
own fireside, but in public places, on the highway,at taverns, 
and on board a steamboat. I have expected to receive testi¬ 
mony to establish the fact of his promulgating his charge on 
all those various occasions, during his journey on his return 
from Congress, in March 1825. At present, i have only ob¬ 
tained it in part. (See Appendix I).) 

Mr. Daniel Large testifies “that on my way. down Ihe 
“Ohio from Wheeling to Cincinnati, in the month of March 
“ 1825, on board of the steamboat General Neville, among 
“ many other passengers were General Jackson and a number 


22 


44 of gentlemen from Pennsylvania, some of xvhom remarked 
“ to the General that they regretted that he had not been elec- 
4i ted President instead of Mr. Adams. General Jackson re- 
“ plied, that it lie would have made the same ptomises and 
“ others to Mr. Clay, that Mr. Adajns had done, he (Gen. Jack- 
44 son) would then, in that case, have been in the Presidential 
44 chair, but he would make no promises to any: that it he went 
44 to the Presidential chair, he would go with clean iiands and 
44 uncontrolled by any one.” 

To this statement, Mr. William Crosdell, who was present, 
subjoins a certificate that “it is a faithful account of Gen. Jack- 
44 son’s conversation on the occasion alluded to.” Both ol those 
gentlemen, 1 have been informed, are respectable citizens of 
Philadelphia. • >. 

1 have understood,that to the Reverend Andrew Wylie, Maj. 
Davis, and others in Washington,in Pennsylvania, on one occa¬ 
sion; at a tavern in West Alexandria, in the same county, on 
another; at Brownsville; at Cincinnati; at Louisville; and at 
Bowlinggreen, in a tavern in Kentucky, General Jackson made 
similar assertions. Should the additional proof expected arrive, 5 
it shall be presented to the public.* Whether such Was the 
design or not, Gen. Jackson appears to have proclaimed his ac¬ 
cusation, at such convenient and separated points, as would in¬ 
sure its general circulation. We have the testimony of Gen. 
Duff Green, (which is at least admissible on such an occasion) 
that he personally knew of Gen. Jackson speaking to the same 
effect as early as March 1825. 

Thus it appears that, in March 1825, at various places, in 
the presence of many persons, Gen. Jackson took upon himself 
to represent that Mr. Adams had made offers to me, and that if 
he had made similar proposals, lie, and not Mr. Adams, would 
have been elected President. With what truth then can he 
assert, as he has done, that the ‘‘origin” of his charge was two 
years afterwards at his own fireside ? Or that he “has not gone 
into the highways and market-places ’ to proclaim his opinions? 

Whilst he has made no protest against any benefit which 
might accrue to himself from the dissemination of such a charge 
against me, he is extremely desirous not to be considered as 
my public accuser. He lias indeed not appeared before a grand 
jury to support a bill of indictment against me. JNeither did 
he arraign me when acting under the oath of a Senator of the 


*See Mr. Simms’s and Mr. Howe’s 
in press. (Appendix!).) 


statements, received since this paper was 


23 


United States, he passed upon my nomination. But, if he can 
be regarded as a public accuser who, on numerous occasions, 
to particular individuals, as well as before crowds of people, 
in public as well as private places, charges another with a politi¬ 
cal offence, Gen. Jackson unites the double character of my 
public and private acc user. With him I have been reluctantly 
compelled to believe the accusation originated. Whether from 
an honest misconception of the purport of Mr. Buchanan's in¬ 
terview with him, (which no one can doubt was the source of 
the calumny) or from the design of promoting his own interests, 
the injury to me has been the same. The public, (as I cer¬ 
tainly had) prior to the last summer, supposed that the charge 
had originated with Mr. George Kremer’s letter to the Colum¬ 
bian Observer. But recent disclosures of Gen. Jackson and 
his partisans, satisfactorily establish that, although the stern¬ 
ness of Mr. Kremer’s patriotism promoted him to “cry aloud 
and spare not,” he must be stripped of the borrowed merit of 
original invention, which impartial justice requires should now 
be transferred to a more distinguished personage. A brief 
summary of incontestable facts will evince the justness of this 
observation. 

It was the policy with which the political campaign was con¬ 
ducted in the winter 1824-25, by the forces of the General, in 
the first instance to practice stratagem with my friends and me. 
Accordingly the arts of persuasion and flattery were employed. 
But as I did not hasten to give in my adhesion, f nd remained 
most mysteriously silent, in other words had not converted my¬ 
self into a boisterous and zealous partizan of Gen. Jackson, it 
became necessary to change that policy, and, to substitute in¬ 
timidation for blandishment. Mr. Kremer presented himself as a 
fit agent in this new work. He was ardent, impelled by a blind 
and infuriate zeal, and irresponsible, and possessed at least the 
faculty of clamorous vociferation. His letter to the Columbian 
Observer was prepared,and lie was instructed to sign and trans¬ 
mit it. That he was not the ..uthor of the letter he has deliber¬ 
ately admitted to Mr. Crowninshietd, -former Secretary bf the 
Navy. That he was not acquainted with its contents, that is, did 
not comprehend the import of its terms, has been sufficiently 
established. To Gov. Kent, Col. Little, (who voted in the House 
of Representatives for Gen. Jackson,) Col. Brent of Louisiana, 
and Mr. Digges, he disclaimed all intention of imputing any 
thing dishonorable to me. (See Appendix E.) Who was the 
real author of the letfer, published in the Columbian Observer* 
to which Mr. Kremer affixes his signature, I will not under- 


24 


take positively to assert. Circumstances render it highly pro¬ 
bable that it was written by Mr. Eaton, and with the know¬ 
ledge of Gen. Jackson. Jn relation to the card of Mr. Kremer, 
in answer to that which I had previously inserted in the Nation¬ 
al Intelligencer, I remarked in mv circular to my constituents, 
that the night before the appearance of Mr. Kremer’s, ‘‘as I 
44 was voluntarily informed, Mr. Eaton, a Senator from Ten- 
44 nessee, and the biographer 'of General Jackson, (who board- 
44 ed in the end of the city opposite to that in which Mr. Kremer 
44 took up his abode, a distance of about two miles and a half,) 
44 was closeted for some time with him.” This paragraph led 
to a correspondence between Mr. Eaton and myself, in the 
course of which, in a letter from me to him, under date the 31st 
March, 1825, I observe, 44 it is proper for me to add that J did 
44 believe, from your nocturnal interview with Mr. Kremer, 
44 referred to in my address, that you prepared or advised the 
44 publication of his card in the guarded terms’in which it is 
44 expressed. I should be happ} , by a disavowal on your part, 

44 of the fact of that interview, or of its supposed object, to be 
44 able to declare, as in the event of such disavowal, I w'ould 
44 -take pleasure-in declaring, that I have been mistaken in sup- 
44 posing that you bad any agency in the composition or publi- 
44 cation of that card.” No occasion can be conceived more 
fitting for an explicit denial'of any participation on the part of 
Mr. Eaton, or in the transaction referred^to. It was the subject 
of the correspondence between us; and I purposedlv offered 
him an honorable opportunity of avowing or disavowing any 
co-operation with Mr. Kremer. Instead of embracing it, he 
does not deny the visit nor my inference from it. On the con¬ 
trary he says in his letter of the 31st March, 1825, “suppose 
44 the fact to be that I did visit him;(Mr. Kremer,) and suppose 
44 too that it was, as you have termed it, a nocturnal visit; was 
44 there any thing existing that should have denied me this 
44 privilege 

As Mr. Kremer asserted that he did not write the letter to 
the Columbian Observer, and as Mr. Eaton does not deny that 
he Wrote the Card, published in Kfemer’s name, the inference 
is not unfair that having been Mr. Kremer’s adviser and aman¬ 
uensis on one occasion, he acted in the same character on the 
other. It is quite clear that the statements in the letter to the 
Columbian Observer are not made upon Mr. Kremer’s own 
knowledge. He speaks of reports, rumors, &,c. “Overtures 
were said to have been made, &c.” 

It is most probable that these statements are founded on 


25 


Gen. Jackson’s interpretation of the object of Mr. Buchanan’s 
interview. How did he obtain the information which was 
communicated to the Columbian Observer? Upon the suppo¬ 
sition that the le»ter was prepared by Mr. Eiton, we can at 
once comprehend it. tie was perfectly apprised of all that 
pnssed bet ween Mr. Buchanan and Gen. Jackson. The coin¬ 
cidence of the language employed in the letter to the Co'umbian 
Observer, with that ol Gen. Jackson to Mr. Carter Beverly is 
very striking, and proves that it has a common) origin. Mr. Kre- 
mer says, “Overtures were said to have been made to the 
44 friends of Clay offering him the appointment of Secretary of 
44 State for his aid to elect Mr. Adams?” Gen. Jackson says, 
“ He [Mr. Buchanan] said he had been informed by the friends 
46 of Mr. Clay that the friends of Mr. Adams had made over- 
44 tures to them, saying if Mr. Clay and his friends would unite 
44 in aid of the election of Mr. Adams, Mr. Clay should be 
44 Secretary of State.” The variations between other parts 
of the two letters are not greater than often occur in different 
narratives of the same conversation. They are not so great 
as those which exist in the accounts which Gen. Jackson has 
himself given, at different times of the same transaction. This 
-will be manifest from a comparison of Mr. Beverly’s report 
of the conversation at the Hermitage, contained in the Favette- 
ville letter of the 8th of March last with Gen. Jackson's state¬ 
ment of the same conversation, in his letter to Mr. Beverly of 
the Gth of June. Speaking of this letter Mr. Beverly says, 
(in his letter to N. Zane, Esq.) that Gen. Jackson 44 asserts a 
great deal more than lie ever told me.” 

From the intimacy which existed between Gen. Jackson and 
Mr. Eaton, and from the fact, stated by them both, of the 
knowledge which each possessed of Mr. Buchanan’s communi¬ 
cation, it cannot be reasonably doubted, if Mr. Eaton prepar¬ 
ed Mr. Kremer’s letter, that Gen. Jackson was acquainted this 
fact. It is worthy of particular observation that up to this day, 
as lar as I am informed, Mr. Kremer has most carefully con¬ 
cealed the source whence fie derived the statements contained 
in his famous letter. 

The rancor of party spirit spaces nothing. It pervades, it 
penetrates every where. It does not scruple to violate the 
sanctity of social and private, intercourse—It substitutes for 
facts dark surmises and malevolent insinuations—It misrepre¬ 
sents and holds up in false and invidious lights, incidents, per¬ 
fectly harmless in themselves, of ordinary occurrence, and of 
mere common civility. More than once, in these agitated times, 


2G 


has an unsuspecting and innocent conversation, which I have 
held with an individual,and which I never entertained the slight¬ 
est suspicion was to be the text of newspaper animadversion, 
been published with scandalous perversions in the public prints, 
and supplied aliment for ma ignant criticism. The intercourse 
and relations between Gen. Jackson and myself have furnished 
a copious theme of detraction and misi epresentation. These 
remarks are made in justification of the allusion which I feel 
constrained to make to a subject which, although there is noth¬ 
ing appertaining to it that 1 can desire to conceal, or which 
can occasion me any regret, should never be touched, without 
the must urgent necessity. I would not now refer to it, if I 
had not too much ground to believe that he has countenanced, 
if not prompted very great misrepresentations, which have first 
appeared in newspapers supporting his cause and enjoying his 
particular confidence, of circumstances, information about 
which, must have been derived from him. 

My personal acquaintance with Gen. Jackson commenced 
in the fall of 1815, at the City ol Washington. Prior to that 
time, I had never seen him. Our intercourse was then friend^ 
ly and cordial. He engaged to pass a week of the ensuing 
summer at my residence in Kentucky. During that sesaon,* 
I received a letter from him communicating his regret that he 
was prevented from visiting me. I did not again see him un¬ 
til that session of Congress at which the events of the Seminole 
War were discussed. He arrived at Washington in the midst 
of the debate, and after the delivery, but before the publica¬ 
tion, of the first speech which I pronounced on tnat subject. 
Waiving all ceremony, I called to see him, intending by the 
visit to evince, on my part, that no opinion which a sense of 
duty had compelled me to express of his public conduct, ought 
to affect our personal intercourse. My visit was not returned, 
and 1 was subsequently told that he was in the habit of indulg¬ 
ing in the bitterest observations upon most of those (myself 
among the number) who had called in question the propriety 
of his military conduct in the Seminole War. ] saw no more 
of him. except possibly at a distance, during the same winter 
in th’s city, until the summer of the year 1819. Being in that 
summer, on my way lrom New Orleans io Lexington, and 
travelling the same road on which he was passing, in the op¬ 
posite direction, from Lexington to Nashville, we met itt Leba¬ 
non in Kentucky, where 1 had stopt to breakfast. I was sit¬ 
ting at the door in the shade reading a newspaper, when the 
arrival of General Jackson and his suite was announced. As 


27 


he ascended the steps and approached me, I rose and saluted 
him in the most respectful manner. He darted by me, slightly 
inclining his head, and abruptly addressing me. He was lol- 
lowed by some of his suite who stopped and conversed with 
me some time, giving me the latest information of my family. 

I afterwards learnt that Gen. Jackson accompanied President 
Monroe, in a visit to my family, and partook of some slight 
refreshment at my house. On leaving the tavern at Lebanon, 

I had occasion to go into a room where I found Gen. Jackson 
seated reading a newspaper, and I retired, neither having 
spoken to the other, and pursued my journey, in company with 
four or five travelling campanions. 

Such was the state of our relations at the commencement 
of the session of Congress in 1823, the interval having passed 
without my seeing him. Soon after his arrival here to attend 
that session, I collected from certain indications that he had 
resolved upon a general amnesty, the benefit of which was to 
be extended to me. He became suddenly reconciled with some 
individuals between whom and himself there had been a long 
existing enmity. The greater part of the Tennessee delegation 
(all I believe except Mr. Eaton and Gen. Cocke) called on me 
together early in the session, for the express purpose, as I un¬ 
derstood, of producing a reconciliation between us. 1 related, 
in substance, all of the above circumstances, including the 
meeting at Lebanon. By way of apology for his conduct at 
Lebanon, some of the gentlemen remarked that he did not in¬ 
tend anv disrepect to me, but that he was labouring under 
gome indisposition.. I stated that the opinions which T had ex¬ 
pressed in the House of Representatives, in regard to General 
Jackson’s military transactions had Oeen sincerelv entertained 
and were still held, but that being opinion; in respect to public 
acts, they never had been supposed by me to form anv just oc¬ 
casion for private enmity between us, and that none had been 
cherished on my part. Consequently there was on my side no 
obstacle to a meeting with him, and maintaining a respectful 
intercourse. For the purpose of bringing us together, the 
Tennessee representatives, all of whom, according to mv re¬ 
collection, boarded at Mrs. Claxton’s, on Capitol Hill, gave a 
dinner to which we were both invited, and at which I remem¬ 
ber, Mr. Senator White, then acting as a Commissioner under 
the Florida treaty, and o’hert were present. We there met, 
exchanged salutations and dined together. I retired fr,,m the 
table early, and was followed to the door bv General Jackson 
and Mr. Eaton, who insisted on my taking a seat in their car¬ 
riage. I rode with them and was set down at my own lodgings. 


28 


1 was afterwards invited by General Jackson to dine with him, 
where I met with Mr. Adam?, Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Southard and 
many other gentlemen, chiefly members of Congress. He also 
dined, in company with fifteen or eighteen members ofCongress, 
at my lodgings, and we frequently met in the course of the win¬ 
ter, always respectfully addressing each other. 

Just before 1 left Kentucky the succeeding fall (November 
1824,) to proceed to Washington, a report reached Lexington 
that General Jackson intended to take that place in his route 
to the city. Our friendly intercourse having been restored, in 
the manner stated, 1 was very desirous that he should arrive 
prior to my departure from home, that 1 might offer to him the 
hospitality of my house, and, lest he might misinterpret the mo¬ 
tive of my departure, if it preceded his arrival. In this temper 
of mind, I think it quite possible that I may have said that, if 1 
had been aware of his intention to pass that way, I would have 
written to him when 1 intended to set out, and urged him to 
reach Lexington before I started on my journey. 1 certainly 
never contemplated travelling in company with him, having 
eometime before made all my arrangements for the journey with 
the gentlemen who accompanied me, and having determined 
upon a route, different from the usual one, which was taken by 
General Jackson. It has been affirmed that I wrote to him 
expressing a wish to accompany him to the City of Washing¬ 
ton, and his silence would seem to imply an acquiescence in the 
correctness of the statement, if it were not put forward on bis 
suggestion. 1 am quite sure that I did not at that period write 
him a letter of any description; but if I did, I here express my 
entire assent to the publication of that or any other letter, ad¬ 
dressed to him by me. I do not believe I did, because 1 do not 
think that there was time, after I heai d of his intention to come 
by Lexington, for a letter from me to reach Nashville, and an 
answer to be returned, before it was requisite to commence 
the journey—a punctual attendance on my part being neces¬ 
sary as the presiding officer of the House. If such *a letter 
had been (as most undesignedly it might have been,) written,' 
can any thing more strongly illustrate the spirit of hostility 
against me than the unwarrantable inferences, which have been 
drawn from that assumed fact? When I left home in Novem¬ 
ber I did not certainly know the electoral vote of a solitary 
state in the Union. Although 1 did not doubt the result of that 
in Kentucky, the returns had not come in, and the first authen¬ 
tic information which 1 received of the vote of any state was 
that of Ohio, which reached me on the Kenawha, during the 
journey, more than two hundred miles from my residence.— 


29 


Whether 1 would be one o'*the three r urned to the house of 
representatives was not ascertained more than three 
weeks after I had reared Washin* 00, Is il not ’ then most 
unreasonable to supple, if I had wrilten such a letter as has 
been imagined, propping that v . should travel together, that I 
could have had a*y object onnected with the presidential 
election? I recced Washington several days before him. 
Shortly after ,lS arrival, le called to see me, but I was out. 
I returned th v i s, S considering it in both instances one of mere 
ceremony. 1 met with him but rarely during that session, and 
always, vnen I did see him, in company. 1 sought no oppor¬ 
tunities to meet him, for, having my mind unalterably fixed in 
its resolution not to vote for him, l wished to inspire him with 
no topes from me. The Presidential election never was a topic 
tc which the most distant allusion was made by me, in any 
conversation with him, but once, and that happened at a din¬ 
ner given by the Russian minister, the late Baron ot Tuyll, on 
on the 24th December, 1824. I recollect the day, because it 
was the birth-day of the late Emperor Alexander. About thirty 
gentlemen composed the party, and among them, Mr. Adams, 
Mr. Calhoun, Gen. Jackson, and I think Mr. Macon. Just be¬ 
fore we passed from the drawing into the dining-room, a groupe 
of some eight or ten gentlemen were standing together, of 
whom General Jackson and I were a part, and internal im¬ 
provements (I do not recollect how) became the subject of 
conversation. I observed to him in the course of it, that if he 
should be Reeled piesident, I hoped the cause would prosper 
under his administration. He made some general remarks, 
which I will not undertake to state, lest I should do him injus¬ 
tice. 

My principal inducement to the publication of this address 
being to exhibit the testimony which it embodies; it forms no 
part of my purpose to comment on the statements which have 
been published of Messrs. Buchanan, Eaton, Isaacs,and Mark- 
ley, all of them the friends ol General Jackson, on the occasion 
of the late election. Neither sh ill I notice the numerous false*' 
hoods of anonymous writers, and editors of newspapers, with 
which the press has teemed to my prejudice. The task would 
be endless. To guard against any misrepresentation that might 
be placed on my silence, in respect to a letter from Mr. Har¬ 
rison Munday, which has been widely circulated, and which 
was published at a period chosen to affect the Kentucky elec¬ 
tion, I declare that whether this letter be genuine or not, its 
statements are altogether groundless. I never had such a con¬ 
versation with him as that letter describes respecting Mr. 


30 


Adams, who, at the timt vhcn j t is alleged to have happened 
was abroad, and of whom >t t j iat e ai'y period, there had been 
certainly no general conve>^ t j on \ n i^ arc | to his election to 
the presidency. The appoin^p nt w hici Mr. Markley holds, 
was conferre d upon him in coh e q Ue nce -,f the very strong 
recommendations of him, princi^lly for «. m0 re important 
office, from numerous highly respectable persons 0 f all parties, 
in various parts of Pennsylvania, from some of i e Pennsylva¬ 
nia delegation, among whom Mr. Buchanan took> V varm and 
zealous interest in his behalf, and from the suppo* given to 
him by the secretary of the treasury, to which department the 
appointment belonged. 

When it was ascertained that I was not one of the three 
candidates who were returned to the House of Representatives, 

I was compelled to vote, if I voted at all, for one of tnose ac¬ 
tually returned. The duty which the people devolved on me 
was painful and perilous, and 1 anticipated that it was impossi¬ 
ble lor me, whatever course 1 should take, to escape censure. 

I confess that the measure has transcended all expectation, if 
it be not unexampled. It has been seen that my opinion was 
early and deliberately formed, under circumstances where no 
personal motive could have swayed me; that it was adhered to 
without deviation; and that it was avowed again and again, 
not to one or two but to many persons, not in obscurity, but 
standing nigh in the public estimation and in my own. Not a 
particle of opposing testimony has been, or with truth can be, 
adduced. 1 have indeed derived consolation from the reflec¬ 
tion that, amidst all the perturbation of the times, no man has 
been yet found hardy enought to assert, that 1 ever signified a 
purpose of voting for General Jackson. It has been seen that, 
so far as any advances were made, they proceeded from the 
side of Gen. Jackson. After our meeting at Lebanon, ages 
might have rolled away, and, if we both continued to live, I 
never would have sought the renewal of any intercourse with 
him. When he came to the Senate, and at the commence¬ 
ment of the next session of Congress, the system of operation 
decided on, in respect to my friends and me, was one of cour¬ 
teous and assiduous attention. From that, the transition was 
to a scheme of intimidation, of which Mr. Kremer letter is 
only a small part of the evidence. Intimidation of a repre¬ 
sentative of the people in the discharge of a solemn trust! 
This is the last day of the Republic on which such means shall 
be successfully employed and publicly sanctioned. Finding 
me immoveable by flattery or fear, the last resort has been to 
crush me by steady and unprecedented calumny. Whether 


31 


this final aim shall be crowned with success or not, depends 
upon the intelligence of the American people. I make no ap¬ 
peal to their sympathy. I invoke only stern justice. 

If truth has not lost its force, reason its sway, and the foun¬ 
tains of justice their purity, the decision must be auspicious. 
With a firm reliance upon the enlightened judgment of the 
public, and conscious of the zeal and uprightness with which 
1 have executed every trust committed to my care, I await the 
event without alarm or apprehension. Whatever it may be, 
my anxious hopes will continue for the success of the great 
cause of human liberty, and of those high interests of national 
policy, to the promotion of which the best exertions of my life 
have been faithfully dedicated. And my humble, but earnest, 
prayers will be unremitted that all danger may be averted lrom 
our common country; and, especially, that our union, our lib¬ 
erty, and our institutions, may long survive a cheering excep¬ 
tion from the operation of that fatal decree, which the voice of 
all history has hitherto uniformly proclaimed. 

II. CLAY. 

Washington, Dec. 1827. 


APPENblX. 


(A.) 

Chillicothe, May 18, 1827. 

Sir, —With respect to the letter from Nashville, of ihe 8th 
of March last, originally published in the Fayetteville Observer, 
to which you have done me the honor to call my attention, in 
your favor ot the first of this month, I can only state, that,so 
far as my knowledge extends, the assertion of the writer “that 
Gen. Jackson told me, [him] this morning, before all his com - 
party , in reply to a question 1 put to him, concerning the elec¬ 
tion of J. Q. Adams to the Presidency, that Mr. Clay’s friends 
made a proposition to his friends that if they would promise 
for him not to put Mr. Adams into the seat of Secretary of 
State, Clay and his friends would, in one hour, make him, Jack- 
son, the President,” is totally destitute of foundation. 

It is well known that when it was ascertained that Mr, Clay 
Would not be one of the three highest persons voted for by the 
Electoral Colleges, for the office of President, my next choice 
was Mr. Crawford. Had it not been for the ill health of that 
gentlemen, and the little prospect there was of his ultimate suc¬ 
cess, several of the Ohio Delegation, besides myself, would 
have given him their support. And, it is with regret, that I 
now see his friends so much divided, and many of them uniting 
with a party by whom he had been so ungererously persecuted. 

It was evident to all that the election did then lie between Mr. 
Adams and General Jackson. And, although so much has been 
said and written, in order to induce a belief that Mr. Clay had 
transferred and influenced his friends to vote for Mr. Adams, 
the fact is that the Ohio Delegation, (or at least a large majority 
of them,) were the first of Mr. Clay’s friends who came to the 
determination of voting for Mr. Adams, and that two without 
having ascertained Mr. Clay’s views on the subject. 

Ohio had interests at stake, which could not, under any cir¬ 
cumstances, be abandoned or jeopardised. The course which 
Gen. Jackson, and many of his friends in Congress, had pur¬ 
sued, with regard to internal improvements, and the bill for 
ihe revision of the Tariff, and, indeed, in relation to almost 
every measure which we deemed of importance to the coun- 



33 


try generally, and more particularly to the Western States, put 
it out of our power to support the pretentions of the General, 
without, at the same time, abandoning what we conscientiously 
believed to be our duty. On the other hand, it was evident, 
that, for the support of those measures, our only reliance was 
upon the friends of Mr. Adams, the identity of interest be¬ 
tween the Northern and Western States, and the liberality of 
the Eastern members of Congress. 

Another, and still more serious consideration with us was, 
the qualifications of those gentlemen from whom, under the 
provisions of the Constitution, a President was to be selected 
by the House. 

So far as 1 was acquainted with the sentiments of Mr. Clay’s 
friends, I do not believe that they could have been prevailed 
upon to have supported the election of General Jackson upon 
any conditions whatever, much less that of excluding Mr. 

Adams from the appointment of Secretary of State. 

The language held by some of the friends of the General, 
before the election, was , that the friends of Mr. Clay durst not 
vote for any man other than General Jackson. This was so 
ofte*n repeated, in a rnenacir g m mner, that it seemed that they 
already considered us chained to the car of the General; and, 
if viewed in that degrading light, what inducement could we 
have had to ask, or to offer conditions of any kind. But it is 
also true that others of the General’s friends used, what they 
no doubt conceived, more persuasive language. Indeed they 
appeared to be willing to make any promises which they thought 
would induce the friends of Mr. Clay to vote for Gen. Jackson. 

I do not believe, however, that General Jackson ever made 
the statement attributed to him, as such slang ” does not com¬ 
port with the character of a soldier, of a high mind honorable 
man. Nor do I believe, as I before stated, that any such pro¬ 
position was ever made by the friends of Mr. Clay to those of 
General Jackson or that propositions of any kind w r ere ever 
made by them, to any person, as a condition, upon the com¬ 
pliance witfv which, their vote was made to depend. But, if 
the fact should be otherwise, let the proof appear, and the 
names of the persons be published, so that the world may know 
and judge how far they ought, of right to be considered the • 

friends of Mr. Clay, or were authorized to make such a pro-t 
position. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfullv, your ob’t serv’t, 

DUNCAN M’ARTHUR. 


Doctor T. Watkins. 


34 


Urbana, July 12th, 1827. 

$ir:—O n my return from a visit to West Point. 1 found your 
Favour of the 5th of May, and with great cheerlulness answer 
the question therein propounded. 

You ask me, as one of the friends of Mr. Clay, that voted 
for Mr. Adams, if I knew of any proposition being made to 
General Jackson or his friends, by Mr: Clay or his friends, that 
if he, Jackson, would not appoint Mr. Adams Secretary of 
State, that we, the friends of Mr. Clay, would support him 
for the Presidency. 1 say without hesitation that 1 never 
’heard of those, or any other terms beinir thought of, as an 
equivalent for the vote we were about to give; nor do.I be¬ 
lieve that the friends of Mr.. Clay, or Mr. Clay himself, ever 
thought of making or suggesting any terms to any one of the 
parties, as the grounds of our acceptance or rejection of either 
of the three candidates returned to the House of-Represen¬ 
tatives. As one of the original friends of Mr. Clay, I was in 
the habit of free and unreserved conversation both with him 
and his other friends, relative to that election, and I am bold 
to say that 1 never heard a whisper of any thing like a condi¬ 
tion on which our vote was to be given, mentioned either by 
Mr. Clay himself or any of his friends, at any time or under 
any circumstances. That the freinds of Mr. Clay, while the 
election was pending before the House, were treated with great 
kindness and courtesy,by the friends of the other candidates, is 
certainly true, and that we were strongly importuned to support 
their respective favorites, is equally true: but I can say with 
truth, and I say it with great pleasure, that I never heard a pro¬ 
position from the friend or friends of either of the candidates, 
or from any other person, directed either to the ambition or 
avarice of those having a voice in the election, calculated or 
intended to swerve them from a conscientous discharge of 
their duty. Nor do I believe it was the opinion of any well 
informed man, in the House of Representatives, until it was 
seized hold of by the Combination as the best and only means 
to ruin Mr. Clay. 

I am, with great respect, your obedient servant, 

JOSEPH VANCE. 

Hon. T. Watkins, 


Lancaster, May 21, 1827. 

Dear Sir: —Absence from home, is the reason why I have 
not, before this answered your letter, upon the subject of the 
letter said to have been written by a ‘‘highly respectable Vir- 
ginian.” 



35 


I do not know that a friend or the friends of Mr. Clay ever 
made any proposition to the friends of Gen. Jackson, respect¬ 
ing the election of Mr. Adams as President in any way, or as 
respecting Gen. Jackson “not putting Mr. Adams into the seat 
of Secretary of State,” in case he (Jackson) should be elected 
President. 

Neither am I acquainted with a friend of Mr. Clay’s that 
would consent to be an agent in such a degrading transaction. 

Nor can I admit that the friends of Mr. Clay had so con¬ 
temptible an opinion of each other or of Mr. Clay, as to sup¬ 
pose that the appointment or non-appointment of any man to 
any office would influence them in the discharge of an impor¬ 
tant public duty. 

Mr. Clay, and his friends, preferred Mr. Adams to General 
Jackson merely because they believed he, in a more eminent 
degree, possessed the qualifications necessary to the able per¬ 
formance of the high duties assigned by the Constitution and 
Laws to the President of the United States. 

I am, dear sir, with great respect, your obedient servant, 

P. BEECHER. 

Doctor Tobias Watkins, Washington. 

Wooster, Matt 9, 1827. 

Dear Sir: Your favor of the 1st instant, has been received. 
I had previously noticed the letter said to have been written 
by a “highly respectable Virginian ,” to which it refers. In an¬ 
swer to your inquiries, I have to state, that I have always 
supposed myself in the entire confidence of all Mr. Clay’s sup¬ 
porters and friends, who were members of Congress at the 
time of the Presidential election; and that I have no hesitation 
in saying that I never heard the most distant insinuation from 
any of them that they would vote for General Jackson, if there 
was any prospect of choosing either of the other candidates. 
That any of the friends of Mr. Clay in Congress ever made 
any proposition of conditions, on which their votes would de¬ 
pend, to the friends of Gen. Jackson or any other person, T do 
not believe. Had General Jackson been chosen, they would 
have felt no concern as to who he might have appointed mem¬ 
bers of his cabinet; and, as to Mr. Clav’s accepting an appoint¬ 
ment under him, they would, to a man, have most certainly 
opposed it. I judge of this from the opinion which I know 
they entertained of General Jackson’s want of capacity, and 
the fact that it was not until some time after the choice of Mr. 
Adams that they agreed toadviseMr. Clay to accept of the office 
he now holds. His acceptance has always been regarded bv 



36 

them as a favor done to the country? and not as one conferred 
upon him. 

If the disposition of General Jackson could have been judged 
of by the importunity of some of his Congressional friends, I 
should have supposed that a proposition of the kind mentioned, 
would have been instantly closed with; but, no such propositions 
were ever made by the friends of Mr. Clay* and none such 
would have been accepted by them. 

In short, I feel confident that the whole is a vile and infamous 
falsehood, such as honorable men would not resort to, more 
especially after having upon full consultation and deliberate 
consideration declined an investigation of the whole matter be¬ 
fore a committee of the House of Representatives. 

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

J. SLOANE. 

Hon. Tobias Watkins. 

Steubenville, 6th May, 1827. 

Dear Sir: —Yours of the 1st current, stating that Gen. Jack- 
son is reported to have said, at his table, “in the presence of all 
his company,” that Mr. Clay’s friends made a proposition to his 
friends that if they would promise for him not to put Mr. 
Adams into the seat of Secretary of State, Clay and his friends 
would, in one hour make him, Jackson, the President,” &c. &c. 
and asking me to inform you whether 1 know, or believe, that 
such a proposition was ever made? Or, whether conditions of 
any sort were proposed by the friends of Mr. Clay to any peri- 
son,on a compliance with whbh their vote was made to depend? 

In reply, I can only say sincerely and unequivocally, that I 
do not know or believe that any proposition of the kind men¬ 
tioned, as from General Jackson, was ever made to the friends 
of General Jackson, by the friends of Mr. Clay, or any of them; 
and that I am wholly ignorant of any conditions, of any sort, 
being proposed to any one, by the friends of Mr. Clay, on a 
compliance with which their votes was made to depend. 

Allow me to observe, in addition, that the vote of the Ohio 
Delegation was determined upon by consultation among its 
members, so far as 1 know or believe, without any stipulation or 
agreement with the Delegation of anv other state, or individual, 
as to what that vote should be. To my knowledge, no influence 
whatever,other lhan the convictions of each member, after a 
candid and serious examination into the fitness and qualifica¬ 
tions of the three candidates before the House, for the office 
of Chief Magistrate, and an ardent desire properly to discharge 
the important duty devolved upon them by the Constitution, 


according to its spirit, operated to control the vote of any one 
of Mr. Clay’s friends, or himself. 

In great haste, sincerely yours, 

J. C. WRIGHT. 

T. Wateius, Esq,. 

Gallipolis, (Ohio,) May 27, 1827. 

Dear Sir:— On returning home, to-day from a short journey, 

I had the pleasure of receiving your letter of the 1 st instant, ad¬ 
dressed to me, concerning the publication of a letter, that first 
appeared in the “Fayetteville Observer,” said to have been 
written by “a highly respectable Virginian,” containing a 
statement, in substance to this effect—that General Jackson, 
in answer to a question put to him by the writer, in presence 
ol his, Gen. J.’s company, said that Mr.Clay’s friends made a 
proposition to his friends, that if they would promise for him, 
Jackson, not to make Mr. Adams his Secretary of State, that 
Clay and his friends would make him president at the then ap¬ 
proaching election by Congress. You request me to favor you 
with a statement concerning my knowledge of this matter. 
Having been one of the friends of Mr. Chi), who voted for 
Mr. Adams, I cheerfully avail myself of this opportunity to say 
that I have no knowledge whatever of the above mentioned 
pioposition or any other proposition having been made to 
Gen. Jackson, or any of his friends, by Mr. Clay or any of his 
friends, as a condition upon which his or their vote was to be 
given to Gen. Jackson for the Presidency. 

It may not, perhaps, be amiss to add, in relation to myself, 
that though l hold the public services of Gen. Jackson in the 
highest estimation, it was well known to my constituents, for 
many months previous to the late Presidential election, that 
after Mr. Clay, Mr. Adams was my next choice, among the 
distinguished individuals who were then before the people of 
the United States, as candidates for that exalted station. 

I am, very respectfully, yours, &,c. 

SAM’L. F. VINTON. 

T. Watkins, Esq. 


Piqua, Ohio, 18th May, 1827. 

Dear Sir: —Yours of the first instant came to hand by the 
last mail, and in compliance with your request l will answer 
the interrogatories you propound. I had, prior to the reception 
of your letter, read the publication to which you allude, said 
to have been written by a “highly respectable Virginian,” and 
Ao»ed at Nashville, the 8th of March last, which first appeared, 



38 


I believe, in the Fayetteville Observer, and subsequently in sev¬ 
eral other papers, in which the writer, after having mentioned 
his visit to General Jackson, thus proceeds. “He, (General 
Jackson,) told me this morning, before all his company, in reply 
to a question I put to him, concerning the election of John Q. 
Adams to the Presidency, that Mr. Clay’s Iriends made a pro¬ 
position to his friends that if they v ould promise ,for him , not to 
put Mr, Adams into the seat of Secretary of State. Clay and 
his friends would, in one hour , make him, Jackson, the President. 
He most indignantly rejected the proposition, and declared he 
would not compromit himself, and unless most openly and fairly 
made the President he would not receive it. He declared that 
he said to them he would see the whole earth sink under him, 
before he would bargain or intrigue for it.” 

You ask me to inform you whether I know, or believe, that 
such a proposition was ever made, or whether conditions of any 
sort were made by the friends of Mr. Clay, to any person, on a 
compliance with which their vote was made to depend? 1 an¬ 
swer that no such proposition was ever made, within my know¬ 
ledge, nor have J any cause to believe that conditions of any 
sort, were made, at any time, by the friends of Mr, Clay to any 
person, on a compliance with which their vote was made to 
depend. I will further say, 1 cannot believe that Gen. Jack- 
son made the declarations attributed to him, in the letter pur¬ 
porting to have been written by a “highly respectable Vir¬ 
ginian.” 

I am, verv respectfully, your obedient servant, 

WM. MCLEAN. 

T. Watkins, Esq. Washington City. 

Canfield, Trumbull county, Ohio, May 12, 1827. 

Dear Sir: —Your favor of the 1st was received this morning. 
In answer to your enquiries, 1 reply, that I do not know or 
believe that any proposition was ever made by any of Mr. 
Clay’s friends to those of General Jackson's, on the morning 
of the Presidential election, or at any other time, having any 
bearing on the candidate to be selected from the three return¬ 
ed to the House, nor do 1 know or believe that any conditions 
of any sort were proposed by the friends of Mr. Clay to any 
person, on a compliance with which their vote was made to de¬ 
pend; but 1 do believe that the assertion made by Gen. Jackson, 
as reported by a “highly respectable Virginian,” and all of tne 
charges of a like character, imputing either to Mr. Adams or 
to Mr. Clay, or to their friends, any improper, inconsistent, 
corrupt or fraudulent conduct, on that interesting and momen- 


39 


tous occasion, are base slanders, known to be such by those 
who put them in circulation, yet very honestly credited by 
many worthy citizens. My intercourse with the friends of 
*Mr. Clay was such that, had any proposition been made by 
them, I should have been very likely to have known of it. No 
man was ever elevated to an office by views more pure and 
patriotic than was Mr. Adams. The assertion imputed to 
General Jackson is ridiculous on the face of it. Admitting 
that Mr. Clay and his friends were oscillating, previous to tne 
charges made against Mr. Clay, of which Mr. Kremer after¬ 
wards assumed to be the author, those charges must have sep¬ 
arated them from General Jackson and his friends; but, as be¬ 
tween Mr. Adams and General Jackson, neither Mr. Clay nor 
his friends doubted for a moment whom to support, and if it 
had been known on the day that Congress met that Mr. Clay 
would not be returned, and the vote had not then been taken, 
(considering Mr. Crawford’s illness,) the result would have been 
the same as when the election was held, if Mr. Clay’s friends 
were halting between two opinions, on the morning of the 
election, how happens it the charge of fraud, corruption, bar¬ 
gain, and sale, were made ten days or a fortnight before that 
time? If General Jackson has any evidence in his possession 
to sustain his declaration, why does he withhold it from the 
public? 

Very respectfully yours, 

E. WHITTLESEY. 

T. Watkins, Esq,. 


Mansfield, O., Mat 24th, 1827. 

Dear Sir: —Your iavorof the 2nd instant was just received, 
giving a statement of the contents of a letter said to have been 
written by a highly respectable Virginian, relative to a state¬ 
ment said to have been made by General Jackson,on the sub¬ 
ject of the late Presidential Election. 

Before. I proceed, injustice to the General, I will say that I do 
not believe that he ever made ihe declaration alluded to by the 
writer of said letter, for the General was there when the elec¬ 
tion took place, and must inevitably have known that such a 
statement would carry falsehood on the very face of it. It was 
well known that some of the friends of Mr. Clay, from Ohio, 
would not, in any event, give their support to Gen. Jackson, 
because Mr. Adams was their second choice, and believed to 
be second choice of a majority of the people of this state; and 
further, Gen. Jackson must know that two weeks previous to 
the election, Mr. Clay and his friends were assailed in a vul- 



40 


gar and ungentlemenly manner, for declaring their intention to 
vote for the present Executive; yet this proposition is said to 
have been made to the friends of General Jackson, that on 
certain conditions, ‘ 4 the General should be President in one 
hour,” which, if true, must have been made only one hour be¬ 
fore the Canvass took place in the House. This statement of 
itself needs no refutation except for the respectable source 
from which it is said to have emanated. I was in the House, 
I believe, every day ol that session at which the President was 
elected; and have no hesitation in saying, that so far from 
making any proposition or overture, were the friends of Mr. 
Clay, in favor of the General, that had the friends of the Gen¬ 
eral made such a proposition, we would have considered it as 
an indignity offered to our integrity and understanding. I 
could not have voted for the General in any event, for many 
reasons—two of which I will mention; First, 1 believed him 
far inferior to all the other candidates in point of ta¬ 
lents: Second, I had doubted his being a real friend to the 
Tariff to protect the manufactures of our own country. I 
will also mention that I had entertained doubts of his being 
friendly to internal improvement under the direction of the 
General Government. These opinions have been, within the 
present year, verified by declarations, and the course pursued 
by the General’s leading friends, and his silence on the subject, 
after being solicited to come out. 

I am, dear sir, with respect, your obedient servant, 

M. BARTLEY. 

T. Watkins, Esq. 


St. Comsville, May 9th, 1827. 

Sir: —Yours of the 1st instant was received the 7th, and in 
answer to your enquiry I frankly state to you that if any such 
proposition as you state, was made by the friends of Clay to 
those of Gen. Jackson, I had no knowledge of it; and I was 
one of the friends of Clay; I therefore believe the report to be 
without an honest foundation. 

Respectfully yours, &c. 

JOHN PATTERSON. 

T, Watkins, Esq,. 

Mountsterling, (Ky.) August 12, 1827. 

Sir: — I have been constantly from home for some weeks 
past and have not had leisure until this morning to answer your 
letter, requesting me to state what 1 know and believe about 
the charges made against Mr. Clay and Mr. AfG*^s. bv General 
Jackson and his friends. 


41 


The letter you refer to, dated Nashville , and said to be first 
published in the '‘Fayetteville Observer,” was read by me some 
time since, in some of my newsnapers, and thrown aside. I have 
searched for it, but cannot find it. The letter—Gen. Jackson to 
Carter Beverly, dated Hermitage, June 6th, 1827 : is before me, 
and I shall refer to it in my reply to you, under a belief that it 
contains the substance oi the accusations made by Beverly in 
his Nashville letter. 

I do not know of my own knowledge, nor have I been inform¬ 
ed by others, that offers, propositions, or overtures, svch as 
are spoken of by General Jackson in his letter to Beverly, or 
similar thereto or of any kind whatever, were made by Mr. 
Adams or his friends to Mr. Clay or his friends; or by Mr. Clay 
or his friends to General Jackson or his lriends. I do not know, 
nor do I believe that Mr. Adams or his friends made overtures 
or offers, directly or indirectly, to Mr. Clay or his friends to 
make him Secretary of State, if he and his friends would unite 
in aid of the election of Mr. Adams; nor do 1 know or believe, 
that any pledge or promise of any kind; was made by Mr. 
Adams or his friends, to Mr. Clay or his friends, to procure 
his aid in the election. 

I never heard from Mr. Clay, or any of his friends, or any one 
else, that he was willing to vote for Gen. Jackson, if the General 
would say, or any of his friends for him, that Mr. Adams should 
not be continued Secretary of State; nor do I know or believe 
that Mr. Clay ever expressed a willingness, or any of his friends 
for him, -.o support or vote for General Jackson, if he could ob¬ 
tain the office of Secretary of State under him. 

I do not know or believe that any overtures or offers of any 
kind were made by Mr. Clay or his friends to Mr. Adams or his 
friends to vote for him or support him if he would make Mr. 
Clay Secretary of State; or to Gen. Jackson or his friends to 
vote for him or support him, if he could obtain the office of Secre¬ 
tary of State under him; nor do I believe that Mr. Clay would 
have taken office under him if he had been elected. 

I cannot believe the statement made to Gen. Jackson, nor do 
I believe that Mr. Clay made, or authorized any of his friends 
to make, overtures to him, directly or indirectly, because I 
know that Mr. Clay intended to vote against him. I know 
Mr. Clay had determined, to vote for Mr. Adams as early as 
October 1824, if the election should devolve upon the House 
of Representatives, in Congress, with his own name excluded 
from the list. In this I cannot be mistaken, because he told 
me so expressly. He may have forgotten what he said to me, 
but the substance of the conversation is fresh in memory with. 


42 


myself, and I will endeavor to detail such portions of it, as will 
evince his prepossessions in favor of Mr. Adams, as well as his 
fixed intention to vote for him. 

Mr. Adams, we all know, was elected on the 9th of Febru¬ 
ary, 1325. The prevailing opinion, you will recollect, as early 
as January 1824, if not earlier, Was, that none of the candid¬ 
ates would obtain a majority of the whole number of electoral 
votes, (261,) and it was exnected as a matter of course, that 
the eventual election would devolve upon the House of 
Representatives. The friends of Mr. Clay believed that 
he would go before the House as one of the three highest on 
the list of candidates; but this was not certain, and on the 
contrary it was reasonable to suppose that he might fail. In 
looking forward to a failure on his part, and to the possible 
events and consequences which might follow, I was frequently 
brought to consider which of the other three candidates ought 
to be preferred as a Chief Magistrate of the nation. It is enough 
to say, without dwelling upon matters concerning myself, that I 
concluded as early as February 1824, to vote for Mr. Adams as 
a second choice in the event of Mr. Clay’s exclusion from the 
House; subject at all times to a change of opinion for such rea¬ 
sons as ought to influence the judgment of a public agent, de¬ 
sirous of discharging his public trusts faithfully and honestly; 
and intending at the proper season to consult fully and freely 
with the rest of my colleagues, holding myself at liberty all 
along to consider the claims of Mr. Crawford, if his health 
should be restored, which, however, I thought improbable, if 
not impossible. It so happened, that the Honorable Robert 
Trimble, then a Judge of the Federal Court for the District of 
Kentucky, and now one of the Justices of the Supreme Court 
of the United States, came to the City of Washington, in the 
,month of February 1824, and I well remember that 1 convers¬ 
ed with him freely upon the subject of the election. I inform¬ 
ed him of my preference for Mr. Adams as a second choice, 
and explained to him the principles and views of policy which 
would govern me in making the selection. I gave him my 
opinion of Mr. Adams as a statesman, and probablv went so 
far as to mention some of my objections to General Jackson. 
The recollections of Judge Trimble on the subject have been 
asked for, and if received in time shall be enclosed. 

My preference to Mr. Adams was strengthened by the oc¬ 
currences of the session ending in May 1824. It was manifest 
to me from what I saw and heard, that the bitterness of oppo¬ 
sition to measures in favor of agriculture, internal improve¬ 
ments, and domestic manufactures had increased, and was in- 


43 


creasing in the South, and I was satisfied that the American 
System of po icy, including our Western interests in it, could 
n«>t be simamed in Congress, without the co-operation of mem¬ 
bers in favor ot the system from the Mistern States, as wed as 
fr om the middle and the Western Slates. I concluded, and 
rightly too, I think, as time will j-how, that the best, if not ihe 
only way to ensure the success of the American system, and 
sustain our Western interests in it, would be to elect Mr. 
Adams, if Mr. Clay should be defeated. 

_ I' 1 frfrs state of mind 1 met with Mr. Clay at Frankfort, in 
Kentucky, about the 1st of October, 1824.’ It was my im¬ 
pression at the time, irom the news ot the day,and other sources 
of information, that Mr. Crawford would get some sixty or 
seventy electoral votes, and that Mr. Clay would be left out 
of the House. We conversed for some time about the election; 
and in the course of conversation, after freely speaking to him 
about his own chances and prospects. 1 asked him which of 
the other candidates he wou'd vote for- in the event of a failure 
on his part; he said, that the event supposed would place him 
in a delicate attitude before the House and nation; that a choice 
among his competitors under any aspect of it would be pain¬ 
ful and embarrassing: That from recent information, the res¬ 
toration of Mr. Crawford’s hea th was entirely hopeless, and 
that he could not consistently with his principles vote fur Gen. 
Jackson under anv possible circumstances. I gave it as my 
opinion, that Gen. Jackson wars not qualified to fill the station, 
and discharge its multifarious and complicated duties, foreign 
and domestic. To this he agreed, and ridded, that the impartial 
world would probably consider Mr. Adams better qualified 
than either Jackson, Crawford, or himself: Thar at all events 
(Crawford aside,) the difference in point of qualification was so 
clear and obvious in favor of Mr. Adams, that his motives might 
be questioned bv imparti al’men. if h& should vote for Jackson; 
and that he would be unable to defend the vote, beeause in 
his own judgment it would afford just ground of censure. 

He made several objections to General Jackson, ani in the 
course of his remarks, expressed himself decidedly hostile to 
the selection of military men to administer the civil govern¬ 
ment of free nations. No nation, he said, had ever done it with 
impunity: The warnings of history were against it: He con¬ 
sidered it a bad example, and a dangerous experiment., and de¬ 
clared that he would not give it the sanction of a precedent in 
our government by any act of his. He turned the conversa¬ 
tion to the Seminole war, and to the occurrences connected 
with it—referred particularly to the constitutional principles 


44 


which were brought forward and supported by himself and Mr. 
Lowndes and others in the course of the debate upon that 
subject, and declared that he could not consent to place Gen. 
Jackson at the head of the nation, after seeing him trample 
upon the constitution, and violate the rights of humanity, as he 
had done at the head of the army, in the progressof that war. 

1 made some reference to the supposed difference of opinion 
between himself and Mr. Adams about the Treaty of Ghent. 
He said in reply, that it had been greatly magnified by the 
friends of his competitors for electioneei ing purposes—that it 
ought to have no influence in the vote which he might be called 
upon to give; that, if he was weak enough to allow his personal 
feelings to influence his public conduct, there would be no 
change in his mind on that account, because he was then upon 
much worse terms with Gen Jackson about the Seminole war, 
than he could ever be with Mr. Adams about the treaty of 
Ghent;—but, that in tiie selection of a chief magistrate for the 
Union he would endeavor to disregard all private feelings, and 
look entirely to the interests of the country and the safety of 
its institutions. 

He spoke at large upon the subjects of agriculture, internal 
improvements, and domestic manufactures—said, that he was 
pledged to the nation in support of the American system of 
policy, and of all measures favorable to it—that his own election 
had been advocated by his friends in part upon that ground, 
and that he would consider it a duty to himself and friends to 
strengthen the ereut cause in which they were all engaged, as 
much as possible. In this respect he was sati fied, he said, that 
Mr. Adams was the oest choice, and that if there was no other 
ground of preference, he would feel himself bound on that ac¬ 
count to vote for him. 

I do not remember whether I informed Mr. Clay of mv own 
preference for Mr. Adams at that time or not, but am inclined to 
think l did not, and 1 am satisfied that I had not done so on 
any previous occasion, it is known to me that Mr. Clav had 
a similar conversation about the same period, with a citizen of 
Kentucky—who stands as high as any man in it—to whom he 
made known his intention to vote for Mr. Adams, and gave 
various reasons why he would do g( >, declaring at the same 
time, that he would not vote lor General Jackson in any pos¬ 
sible event. The reasons given by him to the gentleman al¬ 
luded to, so far as they have been'detailed to me, are similar 
to those which he assigned to me in fa' or of his preference 
for Adams. I am not authorised to name the person alluded 
toj but have no doubt that he would willingly furnish a state- 


45 


ment of the conversation which Mr. Clav held with him, if it 
should he considered necessary or material. 

I should have thought strange of it, d’lYJr. Clay had voted 
for General Jackson after saving what he did of military men, 
and military violence and rashness, in the debate upon the 
Seminole war; and still more strange after declaring—as lie 
has often done in my hearing—in the most solemn manner, 
that the Constitution had been trampled down and violated l>y 
thy lawless arm of military power in that war; and stranger 
still, after advancing the opinions anJ principles, and giving the 
votes which he did on that occasion; but, 1 should have been 
astonished beyond all measure if lie had supported General 
Jackson for the Presidency, alter what he said tomeatFrank- 
• fort on the subject. A vote so much at war with his principles 
and inclinations, and so entirely contrary to his better judg¬ 
ment, and h'S known avowed intentions would have left mein 
amazement; and I am bold to say, that 1 should have turned my 
back upon him and voted for Adams, even if 1 bad been in a 
minority of the delegation from the State. J say. that 1 would 
have turned my back upon him, and 1 would certainly have 
done so, because, knowing what ] did, I should have been com¬ 
pelled to doubt the integrity of his character, and the sound¬ 
ness of his political principles. If he had voted for Jackson 
and taken office unde .*• himy amazement would have had no 
limits . A ch mge of principles and preference so sudden and 
singular, and so inconsistent with his previous character and 
conduct, could not have been explained upon the ordinary ap- 
proveable motives of human action; and I should have been 
driven to suspect the existence of extraordinary seducernents, 
and censurable compliances. Voting as he has done, I still 
consider him—as I always did—an able, independent, fearless 
statesman; uncorrupted, and incorruptible. 

I am satisfied in my own mind, that the imputations of cor¬ 
ruption made against Mr. Clay and Mr. Adams by their ene¬ 
mies, are entirely groundless. Speaking for myself, lam hound 
to s iy injustice to both of them, that 1 have no knowledge of 
any fact or circumstance connected with thein, or either of 
them, directly or indirectly, which throws a shade of doubt 
upon the fairness of their conduct in the election. 

Some days after the election, Mr. Adams made an offer of 
the Department of State to Mr. Clay, and request d a confer¬ 
ence with him. The course pursued by Mr. Clay from that 
time until he concluded to accept the office, forbids the belief 
that he had any previous assurances from Mr. Adams, or that 


4G 


there was any previous understanding between them on the 
subject. . n 

With assurances of regard, I am, sir, yours very respectfully, 

DAVID TRIMBLE, 

Tobias Watkins, Esq. 

Paris, (Ken.), August 13, 1827. 

Dear Sir. —In consequeuee of rnv absence from home, 1 did 
not receive vour letter of the 8th Julv,untilaltermy return from 
tiie Court at Columbus, Ohio, on Monday evening, the 9th inst. 

You request me to state the substance of a conversation 
which took place between us at tbe City of Washington, in 
February or March, 1824, after having visited Mr. Crawford 
together, in relation to the then next Presidential election. 

The occasion has passed over in which a statement of that 
conversation would have been of any direct service to you: 
yet, as it may be some satisfaction to you to know what my 
recollection is of the conversation al.tided to, I will state it. 

While in the City, in February or Match, 1 824, 1 visited Mr 
Crawford several times. I recollect, perfectly, that, on one 
occasion, you and 1 went together to pay him a visit, of respect, 
ns we both entertained for him a very high regard. In going 
to, and returning from, Mr. Crawford’s, we conversed lreely 
about his health, and on the subject of the approaching Presi¬ 
dential election; and I have a distinct recollection of what 
passed, alter leaving him, on our way to our lodgings, at 
Browm’s. You asked me what 1 thought of Mr. Crawford’s 
health, and the probability of its restoration, so as to enable 
him to discharge the duties of President. 1 answered, that 
my opinion w’as decisively against the probability of his re¬ 
covery, so as to be abled to undergo tl e labors, and dis¬ 
charge the duties of the office; and that 1 thought his restora¬ 
tion so as to justify his election, might be consicb red hopeless. 
I added my conviction that he could not recover, and that his 
life would be endangered, until he quit bis present office, and 
left the city with all its cares anti troubles behind him. You 
expressed your entire concurrence; and remarked, that you 
had wished to know whether my deliberate views of his con¬ 
dition corresponded with those you had previously formed. 
The conversation turned upon the probability of the election 
of President coming, ultimately, before tbe House of Repre¬ 
sentatives. We concurred in opinion, that, from tbe number 
of candidates, it was improbable an\ one would have a majori¬ 
ty of the Electoral votes; and that if Mr. Crawford’s friends 
continued to entertain hopes of his recovery, and to press his 


* 



57 


claims to the Presidency, i* was doubtful whether he or Mr. 
Clay would be left out of the House. You expressed the opin¬ 
ion, (Clay aside,) Mr. Adams was the safest and best choice, 
and that the friends of agriculture* internal improvements, and 
domestic manufactures, ought to unite upon him in the event 
ot Mr. Clay’s exclusion from the House. You remarked, that 
you had once entertained some piejudices against Mr. Adams 
as a statesman, but that the more you had seen of him as a 
statesman, the more you had been convinced these preposses¬ 
sions were not well founded. You alluded to the tariff hill of 
1824, then under discussion in Congress; expressed your de¬ 
termination to support it as a system of protection to domestic 
manufactures; and said, if you should have to vote, as a member 
ofthe House of Representatives in the election of President,you 
would vote for the man who, and whose friends you should think 
most favorable to what j ou called the American System. You 
said that Mr. Clay had been the great champion of that system; 
that if we lost him, * ou thought Mr. Adams and his friends, next 
most favorable to it; that you could not, and would not vote for 
any man who, and whose friends, you believed to be united in 
opposition to it; that some of M r. Adams's friends were opposed 
to it, but many of them in favor of it, an I that you believed 
his opinions were favorable to the sy-tem. J remarked, that 
it was perhaps, too early to make up a decisive opinion, in the 
event of the election coming into the House of Representa¬ 
tives;—that the views of men, and of parties in reference to 
these great national interests of agriculture, internal improve¬ 
ments, and domestic manufactures, would probably he further 
developed before the election. You answered, true; hut that 
you had thought much upon the system for their encourage¬ 
ment and protection; that you had made up your opinion upon 
it; and you added, emphatically, “Mv creed is fixed as to the 
principles which must influence my decision.” 

in other conversations with me at the City, I understood 
you as indicating similar views: hut in the particular conver¬ 
sation above detailed, you were more explicit than in any other; 
and the very emphatic manner in which you concluded your 
remarks, m ide a strong and lasting impression on my memory, 
and satisfied me, that in the events contemplated, you would 
vote for Mr. Adams, unless something should transpire before 
the election to change your opinion of him, in reference to 
your favorite system. 

With sentiments of sincere regard, vour obpd’t. serv’t. 

ROBERT TRIMBLE. 


Mr. David Trimble. 


48 


Bowling Green, 23d Mat, 1827. 

Dear Sir:— Yours of the 2d instant is received, in which 
you call my attention to the extract of a letter, said to he writ¬ 
ten bv a “highly respectable Virginian,” dated Nashville, 8th 
of March last, and which you recite as follows: “He (General 
Jackson) told me this morning, before nil his company, in re¬ 
ply to a question 1 put to him, concerning the election ol J. Q. 
Adams to the Presidency, that M r. Clay’s friends made a propo¬ 
sition to his friends, that if they would promis e. for him, not to 
put Mr. Adams into the seat ol Secretary of State, Clay and 
his friends would, in one hour , make him (Jackson) the Presi¬ 
dent. He most indignantly rejected the pr< position, and de¬ 
clared he would not compiomit himself, and unless most openly 
and fairly made the President, he w ould not receive it. He 
declared that he said to them, lie would see the earth sink un¬ 
der him, before he would bargain or intrigue for it.” 

Previous to the receipt of yours, I had observed this extract 
in the papers. I viewed it ns a sheer fabrication, another in¬ 
stance of the outpourings of that disappointed ambition, pre¬ 
judice, and envious malignity, which have been so bountifully 
bestowed on Mr. Clay and some of his friends, for the last 
two years and a half; and such it seemed to me it ought to 
h «ve been esteemed, so long as it rested alone on the authori¬ 
ty of an anonymous writer. For several reasons 1 do not 
think we ought to give credence to General Jackson’s having 
made such a statement, without good proof of the fact. View¬ 
ing the publication in the light 1 have mentioned, I had not 
supposed any notice of it coo'd be called for or expected. 

I have no hesitation however in answering your enquiries. 
After waiting the above extract, you say to me: If such a pro¬ 
position were ever made hv the friends of Mr. Clay to those of 
Gen. Jackson, it must have been known to many persons, and 
the fact therefore may be ascertained. May I ask the favor of 
you to inform me whether you know or believe any such 
proposition was ever made, or whether conditions of any sort 
were made by the friends of Mr. Clay to any person on a com¬ 
pliance with which their vote was made to depend?” 

To the first branch of the enquiry, my answer is that I have 
no knowledge of any such proposition; nor do I believe any 
such was ever made. 

To the second I answer, that T neither know of, nor do I 
believe that any conditions ofany sort were.made by the friends 
of Mr. Clay to any person, on compliance with which their 
vote was to depend. 

Very respectfully, vour humble servant, 

T. Watkins, Esq. * FR. JOHNSON. 


49 


Mason County, Ky., 12th June, 1827. 

Dear Sir:— Your letter of the 2d of May last, addressed to 
me at Carlisle, in this State, having been duly received by my 
family, and handed to me on my return home a lew days ago 
from the State of Mississippi, 1 hasten to give you the informa¬ 
tion required. As to the letter which is said to have been writ¬ 
ten by a “highly respectable Virginian,” dated at Nashville, on 
the 8th day of last March, which first appeared in the Fayette¬ 
ville Observer, stating that he (the writer) had been told that 
morning by the General, “ before all his company , that a proposi¬ 
tion had been made by the friends of Mr. Clay to the friends 
of Jackson, that if they would promise for him not 'o put Mr. 
Adams in the seat of Secretary of State, Clay and his iriends 
would in one hour , make him (Jack?on) President, &,o.” I 
have to state, that I never heard or thought of such a proposi¬ 
tion, until the letter of the “highly respectable Virginian” ap¬ 
peared in the public prints. Some time before the Presidential 
vote was given in the House of Representatives, 1 well remem¬ 
ber to have heard it stated by some one, that in the event of 
the election of General Jackson, Mr. Adams would most pro¬ 
bably be withdrawn from the National Cabinet, and made Gov¬ 
ernor of Massachusetts, that it was not likely that he would 
accept an appointment under the General il offered to him. 
Neither before, nor since that election, have ] interchanged a 
word with Mr. Adams respecting it. But my opinion at that 
time was that if not elected, he would retire from the Cabinet, 
as a matter of choice and not of necessity . As one of the friends 
of Mr. Clay, I enter the most solemn proiest against the right 
of the General, through his organ, the “highly respectable Vir¬ 
ginian,” or otherwise, to say that 1 would have assisted in mak¬ 
ing him President on the conditions stated. On the contrary, 
iM could have been made to believe that Gen. Jackson would 
not have offered to Mr. Adams the place which he had filled 
with so much ability under Mr. Monroe, that belief would have 
constituted in my mind a strong additional objection to the 
General's success. 1 should then have taken it for granted, 
that it was the intention of the General to surround himself 
with that class or partv of politicians with whom he had in a 
great degree become identified, and between whom and my¬ 
self there existed such a radical difference of opinion in rela¬ 
tion to the great leading question of national pohcy. I allude 
to the army , the anti-tariff and anti-internal improrement par¬ 
ties. If it is intended to impose the belief that Mr. days 
friends were desirous of obtaining the appointment/or him, to 
the exclusion of Mr. Adams or otherwise under Gen. Jackson, 


50 


as one of his friends, I pronounce it a base and infamous assault 
upon the motives, and honor, so far as i am concerned or be¬ 
lieve, of those who did not choose to support him for the Presi¬ 
dency* 

Inreply to your second enquiry, I have to say that if con¬ 
ditions ot anv sort were ever made by the friends of Mr. Clay 
to anv person, on a compliance with which their vote was 
made to depend, 1 know nothing of it.. Believing that Mr. 
Clay would not have accepted an appointment under the Gen¬ 
eral. I am at a loss to conjecture where* or from whom the 
authority lor'making such propositions could have been deriv¬ 
ed. But if any individual, (tailing himself the friend of Mr. 
Clay, did make proposals of such a character, why not name 
the man , and let him state to the public by what authority he 
made them? With gieat respect, 

1 am, dear sir, your obed’t. serv’t. 

THOMAS METCALFE. 

T. Watkins, Esq,., 4th Aud. Treas. Depart. 


Lancaster, Ky., 26th June, 1 827. 

Dear Sir: —Yours of the 2d May, did not reach me until a 
day or two ago. You inquire whether l know any thing in 
relation to the following statement, said to have been made by 
“a highly respectable Virginian*': “He (General Jackson.) 
told me this morning, before all his company, in reply to a 
question I put to him, concerning the election of John Q,. 
Adams to the Presidency, that Mr. Clay's friends made a pro¬ 
position to his friends that if they v ould promise, for him , not to 
put Mr. Adams into the seat of Secretary of State. Clay and his 
friends would, in one hour, make him, Jackson, the Pr sklent.” 

I know of no such proposition.or intimation, nor have 1 a know¬ 
ledge of any fact or circumstance which would induce me to 
believe that Mr. Clay’s friends, or anv one of them, ever made 
such a proposition to the friends of Gen. Jackson. 

With great respect, your obedient servant, 

R. P. LETCHER. 

T. Watkins, Esq,. 

Greensburgh, Ivy., May 26, 1827. 

Dear Sir: —Having been absent from home, for some time, 
yours of the 2 1 of this month w>ns not received until a day or 
two s nce. You mention a letter, said to have been written 
by “a highly respectable Virginian,’* dated at Nashville. 8th of 
March last, which first appeared in the Fayetteville Observer, 
in which Gen. Jackson is represented as having said before all 



51 


his company, in reply to a question put to him by the Virgin¬ 
ian, concerning the election of J. Q,. Adams to ihe Presidency, 
that Mr. Clay’s friends made a proposition to his friends, that 
if they would promise, for him , not to put Mr. Adams into the 
seat of the Secretary of State, Clay and his friends would, in 
one hour, make him, Jackson, the P.esident.” 

Jn answer to your inquiries on this subject, 1 will remark that 
I have no reason to believe that anv such proposition was made. 
In leed no proposition of any description, relating to the elec¬ 
tion of President was made, so far as I know or believe, by 
Mr. Clay’s friends to those of Gen. Jackson, or of any other 
person. 

With great respect, your obedient servant, 

RICHARD A. BUCKNER. 

T. Watkins, Esq. 


Yellow Banks, 19th Junk, 1827. 

Dear Sir: —I did not answer your letter of the 2d May last, 
and the apology I offer, I expected Gen. Jackson would have 
contradicted the report of the conversation he had with the 
4 ‘respectable Virginian''* or that he would have designated the 
friend of Mr. Clay who made the proposition to make him 
President, if he would not make Mr. Adams Secretary. 

If I had not have been disappointed in my expectations, an 
answer from me would have been unnecessary. 

General Jackson remains silent, and the only inference to be 
drawn is, that he did have the conversation alluded to with the 
Virginian. 

I now answer your inquiry, and say I know of no proposi¬ 
tion made by the friends of Mr. Clay to the friends of General 
Jackson to make him President if he would not select Mr Adams 
to the seat of Secretary; and I do not believe a proposition of 
any kind was made, and I expect if the friend of the General 
should ever speak on the subject, he will be a second Krerner. 

Yours, with respect, 

T. Watkins, Es*. P. THOMPSON. 

Baton Rouge, July 17.1 827. 

Dear Sir: —In answer to your letter of the 1st of May, in 
which you inquire whether I know or believe that the friends 
of Mr. Clay during the pendency of the last Presidential elec¬ 
tion, proposed to the Iriends of General Jackson to make him 
the President upon condition that he would not continue Mr. 
Adams Secretary of State. I have no knowledge of any propo¬ 
sitions having been made by the friends oi Mr. Clay or any of 



52 


them to the friends of Gen. Jackson or to any other person, in 
relation to the election of President; or the proposition of con¬ 
ditions of any sort, on a compliance with which their vote was 
made to depend. I believe the charge wholly destitute of 
truth. I am, very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

Doctor T. Watkins. H. H. GURLEY* 


St. Martinsville, Attathapas, La., 4th June, 1827. 

Dear Sir: — 1 had seen the letter you alluded to in the Public 
Prints before I received yours of the 1st May. 1 cannot ex¬ 
press the indignant feelings it excited. It is the fabrication of 
a desperate man, who to obtain his object dares to assert what 
he knows to be false* You ask me to say, whether 1 4 *know or 
believe that such a proposition was ever made, or whether con¬ 
ditions of any sort were proposed by the friends of Mr. Clay 
to any one, on the compliance with which their vote was made 
to depend.” No honorable man can believe for a moment that ' 
such a proposition was ever made, or such a condition stipu¬ 
lated. i was a friend of Mr. Clay’s throughout the contest, 

I was in the confidence of all his friends, and 1 declare to God 
that I never heard of such a thing until it was asserted by the 
disappointed adherents of Gen. Jackson. I am not only igno¬ 
rant of any such arrangements, but do not believe they ever 
existed. 1 know full well, that at the time the charge was 
made by General Jackson or his friends, that no person with 
whom I conversed, believed Mr. Clay had acted improperly, 
except the adherents of General Jackson, who, I shall always 
believe, felt angrv at Mr. Clay and his friends for having 
too much firmness in the first instance to be acted upon by 
their violence; and in the second instance, too much integ¬ 
rity and love of country to yield to a faction headed by a 
Military Chief, without talents, and whose life is a history of 
immorality, bloodshed, and violation of the laws of God and of 
his country. I well recollect that the high-minded and honor¬ 
able friends ot Mr. Crawford, amongst whom I name the Hon. 
Mr. Forsyth o( Georgia, the Hon. Mr. Stevenson of Virginia, 
the Hon. Mr. Williams, Saunders, Edwards of North Carolina, 
and others whom I could name, and amongst them the . Hon. 
Sam. Soilh of Maryland, in frequent conversations with me, 
repelled such charges, as the effusions of disappointed men, 
and approved of the choice made by the friends of Mr. Clay, 
in preference to General Jackson. I regret now to see these 
gentlemen, all except Mr. Williams, acting against their then 
opinions. I regret it the more, for I entertained for each of 



53 


them the highest esteem, nor can I believe that they will per¬ 
sist in a course which will end in their support of Gen. Jack* 
son. I am not astonished at their opposing the Administra¬ 
tion, as it is friendly to ‘‘Internal Improvements and Domestic 
Manufactures,” but 1 can never be'ieve that they will give a 
preference to a man like General Jackson over our present 
Chief Magistrate. 

I think the friends of Mr. Clay ought to contradict the base 
unfounded charge: as one, I am determined that such an accu¬ 
sation snail not rest upon me. If Gen. Jackson does not estab¬ 
lish his assertion, (which he cannot,) he ought to stand forth to 
the world, as a proven base calumniator, as unworthy of pub¬ 
lic or private confidence, and avoided by every man who has 
a respect for virtue and for honor. 

Your obedient servant, 

WM. BRENT. 

P. S.—You may use this letter as you think proper. I shall 
be at Washington about the 15th July, when I will see you. 

St. Genevieve, Missouri, August 2d, 1827. 

Dear Sir: —I saw some time since, in the public prints, a 
letter said to have been written from Nashville, by a highly 
respectable Virginian, detailing a conversation held by him 
with General Jackson in relation to the last Presidential Elec¬ 
tion. I have since seen and perused a letter of Gen. Jackson 
himself to Mr. Carter Beverly,of the 6th of June, on the same 
subject, I was one of the open and avowed friends of Mr. 
Clay in the last Presidential contest, and held one of the 
twenty-four votes on that important occasion. So far, there¬ 
fore, as I am implicated in the communication of the Virginian, 
and the letter of Gen. Jackson, 1 deem it my duty to make the 
following statement, and place it in the hands of some gentle¬ 
man at the seat of government to be used at discretion. 

1. Neither Mr. Adams nor his friends ever made any pro¬ 
mises or overtures to me nor did they hold out to me any in¬ 
ducements of any sort, kind or character whatever, to procure 
me to vote for Mr. Adams. Nor did Mr. Adams or any of his 
friends ever say or insinuate who would be placed at the head 
of the Department of State, or any other Department, in the 
event that Mr. Adams should be elected. Nor do I believe 
any propositions were made to Mr. Clay or his friends, by Mr, 
Adams or his friends. If there were 1 know it not. 

2. I was frequently with Mr. Crawford, but he never hinted 
at the Presidential election. The friends of Mr. Crawford, in¬ 
cluding Thomas H. Benton, T. W. Cobb, Jesse B. Thomas, 


54 


Lewis McLane, Mr. Van Buren, and others, did press me to 
vote for Mr. Crawford, which, (having lost Mr. Clay,) I readily 
admit, I was inclined to do had his health been good, and would 
my vote have availed him. They urged, however, no other rea¬ 
sons than the promotion of virtue, talents and integrity; nor did 
I understand his friends as acting by the authority or consent 
of Mr. Crawford. 

3. The friends of General Jackson, (including Thomas H. 
Benton, after he had abandoned Mr. Crawford,) did urge me 
in the most impetuous manner to vote for General Jackson, 
but 1 did not understand them as doing so by the advice or 
consent of General Jackson, though they frequently said he 
would do great things for the West if elected, that he was a man 
of strong gratitude, and would go the whole for his friends and 
against his enemies. 

4. i never exchanged one syllable with Gen. Jackson in per¬ 
son on the subject of the Presidential election, neither before or 
after the Election. I never made to General Jackson or to any 
of his friends an} 7 proposition, in reference to the Presidential 
election, either as regarded the appointment of Mr. Clay or any 
other person to office, or the exclusion of Mr. Adams or any 
other peison from office. 1 was never spoken to by Mr. Clay 
or any of his friends, about making any proposition to G» n. 
Jackson or his friends of any kind whatsoever, nor did 1 ever 
hear it insinuated or hin:ed, that any proposition was made or 
intended to be made, by Mr. Clay or his friends to Gen. Jack- 
son or his friends, or to any other candidate or his friends, for 
or relating to the Presidency. And I do believe, had any pro¬ 
position been made or intended to have been made by Mr. Clay 
or his friends, from my intimacy and constant intercourse with 
them, I should have known or heard thereof. 

5. 1 never consulted or advised with any one how I should 
vote except with the two Senators from my own state, and 
with Mr. Clay whose advice I voluntarily solicited. The an¬ 
swer of Mr. Clay to me when l requested his opinion and ad¬ 
vice was substantially this: That I personally knew all the 
candidates well, that he would give no opinion that might go 
to the prejudice of any candidate, or operate to influence any 
Elector; that all he would say was that I ought not to be 
hasty and commit myself, but wait to the last moment for 
advices from my state, to the Legislature of which, then in 
session, I had applied for information on the subject of the 
Election. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your ob’t servant, 

JOHN SCOTT. 

Doctor T. Watkins, Esq. 


55 


(B.) 

Frankfort, September 3rd, 1827. 

Mr Dear Sir:— I have received your letter of the 23rd of 
July last, and cannot hesitate to give you the statement you 
have requested. 

Some time in the fall of 1824, conversing upon the subject 
of the then pending presidential election, and speaking in refer¬ 
ence to yourexclusion from the contest,and to your being called 
upon ta decide and vote between the other candidates who 
might be returned to the House of Representatives,you declared 
that you could not. or that it was impossible for you to ‘vote for 
Gen. Jackson in any event. ’ M y impression is that the con¬ 
versation took place at Capt. Weisigers tavern in this town 
[Frankfort, lvy.J not very long beforeyou went on to Congress 
in the fall preceding the last presidential election, and that the 
declaration made by you as above stated was elicited by some 
intimation that fell from me of my preference for Gen. Jack- 
son over all the other candidates except yourself. It was one 
of the many casual conversations we had together upon the 
subject of that election, and various other subjects, and had 
entirely escaped from my mind until my attention was particu¬ 
larly recalled to it after the election. 

I will only add, sir, that I have casually learned from my 
friend Colonel James Davidson, our state Treasurer, (what you 
may probabty have forgotton.) that you conversed with him, 
about the same time, upon the same subject, and made to him, 
in substance, the same declaration that you did to me. 

Notwithstanding the reluctance I feel at having my humble 
name drawn before the public, I could not, in justice, refuse to 
give you the above statement of facts, with permission to use 
it as you may think proper for the purpose of your own vin¬ 
dication. 

I have the honor to be, yours, &,c. 

J. J. CRITTENDEN. 

Hon. H. Clay, Secretary of State. 

Frankfort, 20th October, 1827. 

Sir: During a xiisit you made to this place, in the fall 1824, 
and I think, only a few days prior to your leaving Kentucky 
to attend the Congress of the United States, you and myself 
were in conversation about the then pending presidential elec¬ 
tion; in the course of which I remarked, *‘Mr. Clay you will 
have to encounter some difficulty in miking a selection amongst 
the candidates, should you be excluded from the House.” You 
replied, “I suppose not much; in that event, I will endeavor to 



50 


do my duty faithfully.” I then observed, 4 *I know you have 
objections to General Jackson, and rumor says, you have some 
to Mr. Adams also—and the health of Mr. Crawford is said 
to be very preeaiious; these are the reasons which induced 
me to suppose there would be some difficulty.” Ycuin reply, 
remarked, M cannot conceive of any event that can possibly 
happen, which could induce me to support the election of Gen. 
Jackson to the presidency: For, if i had no other objection, 
his want of the necessary qualifications would be sufficient.” 
Your remarks made a strong and lasting impression on my 
mind: and, when the resolutions, instructing our Senators and 
requesting our Representatives, in Congress, to vote for Gen. 
Jackson, were under discussion in the House of Representa- 
tives, I informed several of my friends, that I had had a con¬ 
versation with you on the subject to which the resolutions re¬ 
ferred, and that I was convinced you would not support the 
General; and to George Robertson, Esq. late Speaker of the 
House of Representatives of the State, I gave the substance 
of your remarks to me, and he concurred with me in the opin¬ 
ion that you could not, consistently under any circumstances, 
vote for the General; and when the resolutions above mention¬ 
ed, were before the Senate, (in which 1 then had the honor of 
a seat,) l opposed them, and amongst other views 1 then took, 
I stated to that body, * 4 that all the resolutions we could pass, 
during the whole session, w’ould not induce you to abandon 
what you conceived to be your duty, and that I knew you could 
not concur with the majority of the legislature on that sub¬ 
ject.” 

Yours, respectfullv, 

JAMES DAVIDSON* 

H. Clay, Esq. 


Washington, November 17, 1827. 

Dear Sir; —In answer to your letter of the 26th, I liave no 
hesitation to state the purport of the several conversations 
that 1 had with you in relation to the presidential election dur¬ 
ing the session of 1824-5. 

I met you, for the first time on your return to Washington, 
in December 1824.on the Saturday or Sunday evening previous 
to the meeting of Congress, and at that time we had a long and 
free conversation on the approaching election. I said to you, 
it was still uncertain whether you or Mr. Crawford would be 
returned to the house of representatives, but, from the informa¬ 
tion I had, 1 believed that you would receive the vote of Louisi¬ 
ana, and be returned as the third candidate. 


57 


I expressed to you some solicitude about the election, and 
the hope that we should pass quietly thro’ it; I said that I ap¬ 
prehended a protracted struggle; that while three candidates 
remained before the House, it would be difficult for either to 
obtain a majority. That the excitement which the contest 
naturally produced would daily increase, that the parties would 
become obstinate, that the people might be dissatisfied, and that 
some agitation might be produced. That for the character as 
well as the tranquility ot the country, it was desirable that we 
should pass through it safely. You "replied, that you would not 
permit the country to be disturbed a day on your account, that 
you would not allow your name to interfere with the prompt 
decision of the question by the House. 1 so id, if it becomes 
necessary the country has a right to expect and will expect that 
of you. 

You informed me you had seen Mr. Crawford, that you had 
been shocked with his appearance, that notwithstanding all 
you had heard, you had no idea of his actual condition. And 
after expressing the sympathy which his misfortunes excited, 
you said he was incapable of performing the duties of the Ex¬ 
ecutive, and it was out of the question to think of making him 
president. 

I remarked to you, that in all probability the contest would 
be finally reduced lo Mr. Adams and General Jacks-on, and the 
conversation turned upon their comparative merit and qualifi¬ 
cations, and a long discussion ensued;, you drew a parallel be¬ 
tween them, in a manner I though very just and respectful to 
both. You concluded by expressing a preference lor Mr. 
Adams, which turned principally on his talents and experience 
in civil affairs. I alluded to your critical position between the 
two parties, and the great personal responsibility under which 
you would act. You said it was true, but it could not be avoid¬ 
ed, it was a duty imposed by your situation, that you would 
meet it as any other public duty. 

1 intimated to you, that in the present stage, it would be im¬ 
proper to make known your sentiments, that there were strong 
motives for your not taking an active part in t ie contest. I 
suggested the relation in which you stood to the House, to the 
parties, and to the country, and said that great influence would 
be attributed to your opinion, that all parlies would look to 
your course with interest, and that you would act under great 
responsibility. I thought there was no necessity for increasing 
the difficulty of your situation, by taking a part in the elec¬ 
tion, and that it would be better to let it take its course. I 
left you under the impression that you concurred in these views. 


58 


I saw you again on the return of the votes from Louisiana* 
by which it was ascertained that you were excluded from the 
House. I then took the liberty of repeating to you all that I 
had before said in regard to the course you ought to pursue. 
I urged the consideration of your being the presiding officer of 
the House, where new questions might arise during the elec¬ 
tion, and such other reflections as occurred to me. You said 
you were aware of the danger, as well as the delicacy of your 
position, and that you would leave your friends perfectly at 
liberty to exercise their own judgments. I will add that no 
instance came within my knowledge in which you deviated 
from this course. My opinion was, and still is, that you be¬ 
haved with the greatest propriety, in the situation in which you 
were placed. 

1 conversed with you in a walk to the Capitol on the in¬ 
structions of the Legislature of Kentucky. You still express¬ 
ed your determination to vote for Mr. Adams. You said the 
legislature had no right to direct you in the discharge of your 
duty; that you had received no instructions to vote for Gen. 
Jackson from your own district, that the instructions and let¬ 
ters you had received, directed you to pay no attention to the 
legislative instructions, but to act upon your own judgment 
and do the best for the country. You said you were not only 
free to choose, but. you were under a great personal responsi¬ 
bility. That you would acquit yourself in the discharge of this 
duty, by making the best choice under all circumstances; 
That vou believed Mr. Adams was the ablest and the safest 
man, and you would act under that conviction. 

1 called on you on the morning of the publication of your 
card. You said that 1 would now see.that the delicacy you 
had observed had procured no respect or forbearance towards 
you; you spoke with some indignation at the means which had 
been employed, as well as the motives of those by whom you 
were assailed. You spoke of anonymous letters full of abuse 
and menace, letters written at Washington, to be published at 
different places, and of the letter which had been noticed in 
your Card, &c. 1 observed, you must expect all this,—You 

must have foreseen that at some time the storm would burst 
on your head,—You must prepare to meet it firmly, and bear 
it patiently. A public man must relv upon the weight of his 
character, and the justice of his country, and 1 added that I 
still believed the course you had pursued in the election the 
most correct. You said you should continue as you had done 
to disregard newspaper and anonymous abuse, but this paper 
was published on the authority of a member of the House 


59 


of Representatives, and therefore deserved to be met openly. 

In referring to the terms of this letter, you observed that you 
did not know that you would be offered a place in any 
administration, nor did you know who would compose the 
cabinet of either candidate. That you could not be the 
member of any cabinet that would require you to advocate 
principles different from those you Lad always maintained be¬ 
fore the public, and for the support of which your public char¬ 
acter was pledged. On the tender of the office of Secretary of 
State, you consulted with me on the acceptance or refusal of 
the olhce. You stated all the reasons, private and public, for 
and against the acceptance, and asked my opinion. 1 said it 
was an occasion on which you ought to consult freely your 
friends and act by their advice. My o\a n opinion is, you must 
accept; in the situation in which you have been placed by cir¬ 
cumstances you have no choice;—and I suggested some rea¬ 
sons of a public nature why you ought to be a member of the 
Cabinet. After your nomination was confirmed, you informed 
me that you had requested General Harrison to move for a 
Committee in the Senate, if any thing occurred to make it 
necessary. I replied that I did not think any thing had occur¬ 
red to require a Committee on your part. The foregoing is 
the purport of several conversations; 1 cannot pretend to pre¬ 
serve the language, but it is a true and faithful statement of 
the substance of your opinions and views so far as they were 
known to me. 1 avail myself ol the occasion, although not 
calhd for by your letter, to state that I had occasional com¬ 
munications with you and several of your friends in which the 
conversation was free and unreserved. That no fact ever 
came to my knowledge, that could in the slightest degree justi¬ 
fy the charge which has been exhibited. On the contrary, I 
know that your opinion did not undergo any change from the 
time I first saw you on your return to Washington. I have 
reason to believe that any silence and reserve which you ob 
served during the contest, was dictated by a sentiment of deli¬ 
cacy to the candidates, and by a sense of self-respect, as well as 
of duty to the office you held in the House. I will add that 
during the present summer, 1 met with two gentlemen in the 
State of Mississippi, who voluntarily told me that they heard 
you express your decided preference of Mr. Adams at Lexing- 
Ington, before you left home for Washington. With great re¬ 
gard, your obedient servant, J» S. JOHNSON. 

Washington, December 8th, 1827. 

Dear Sir: —In answer to vour esteemed favor of the 7th 

H 



60 


inst., requesting me to state any recollection that I may have 
of a conversation which took piace at your lodgings, concern¬ 
ing the election of President of the United States, l can say, 
I distinctly recollect that on the 20lh December, 1824, which 
was the day of my arrival here from the Sfate of Louisiana to 
take my seat in the Senate of the United States. I called on you 
the same evening, and in the course of a conversation, in 
which I informed you that you had lost the votes of Louisiana, 
I desired to know, who you intended to vote for as President, 
you then told me without any hesitation, that you would vote 
for Mr. Adams in preference to Gen. Jackson. 

With great respect, yours respectfully, 

D. BOUL1GNY* 

Washington, August 14th, 1827. 

I certify that in the early part of the session of Congress 
’24-5; I dined at the Columbian College with Gen. Lafayette, 
Mr. Clay and others—on returning from that dinner to towrr, 
Mr. Clay and myself (there being no other person with us) 
came in the same hack. During the ride our conversation 
turned on the then pending presidential election, J expressed 
myself, in the event of the contest being narrowed down to 
Mr. Adams and Gen. Jackson, in favor of Mr. Adams, and Mr* 
Clay expressed a coincidence of opinion, 

JAMES BARBOUR. 

La Grange, October 10, 1827. 

My Dear Sir :-~-Having accidently omitted the last oppor¬ 
tunity to answer your most valued favor, August 10th, I avail 
myself of the next packet to offer my affectionate thanks, and 
request, as much as the presure of business allows it, the very 
high gratification of your correspondence. Your diplomatic 
accounts from Europe leave little to say; and,although a mem¬ 
ber of that House, by courtesy, called Representative, i am 
not the wiser nor shall 1 be the more useful for it. A dissolu¬ 
tion of the House is much spoken of—the ministry are record¬ 
ing the new electoral li.-ts in consequence of a late biil ming¬ 
ling the vote of election with the duties of juror, to which, 
however, some additions have been made. As the public mind 
is progressing, and several wilful errors have been forcibly 
rectified, a liberal opposition cannot fail to be more numerous: 
The question with government is—whether they will this year 
meet a larger minority, with a seven years new lease, or here¬ 
after risk to have a majority against them, or at least a strong¬ 
er opposition than that to which, in case of dissolution, they 


must now submit. The account of the funerals of Manual 
having been indicted before an inferior tribunal, and our 
speeches on his tomb making a part of the impeachment of the 
punlishers, it became the duty of Mon. Lafitte, ——, and my¬ 
self to claim our share in the trial, which we could not obtain; 
but a judgment of the Court, very properly and liberally word¬ 
ed, has acquitted the selected objects of the accusation. An 
appeal from that decision to the Superior Court, has, it is said, 
taken place. The intervention of three great Powers in the 
affairs ol Greece seem to promise a respite, although it has not 
prevented the arrival of an Egyptian fleet and a body of sold¬ 
iers. There is, however, some good in the notification made 
by the French and English Admirals impeding further pro¬ 
gress. The mediation has been accepted by the Greeks. The 
Ottoman Porte hitherto refuse it. So far, they oblige the me¬ 
diators to commit themselves a little more, and if they are sin¬ 
cere the Porte must yield at last, it is obvious to every loolt- 
eron *hat those powers are jealous of liberty, of complete 
emancipation, and jealous of each other. If any body can 
play the difficult game, it must be Capodistria, who is now on 
his third station, that of Paris, before he proceeds to the Presi¬ 
dential Chair. He unites in his person an exclusive coinci¬ 
dence of happy circumstances. After he has managed those 
discordant elements, there will be other discordances to be 
managed at home, for which he also seems to be the proper 
and exclusive man. Upon the whole, the existence of Greece 
is rather more secured than it has been of late. I have received 
a letter from our friend Poinsett, and cannot but observe with 
him the general and especial attempts that have been lately 
directed against the peace, harmony, and institutions of the 
Republican States of South America and Mexico. Jt is very 
natural to seethe Republican Minister of North America, but 
to those monarchical and aristocratical factions. That the 
imputation as given from Europe, is not, I think, to be ques¬ 
tioned; but I have received with deep regret the part of your 
letter alluding to a man whose glory, great talents, and hither¬ 
to experienced patriotism 1 have delighted to cherish. Sever¬ 
al painful informations had reached me, which, altogether, 
and many more besides, could not weigh so much with me 
as your own sense of the matter. 1 beg you to continue to 
write on the subject, and on every matter relative to public 
concerns, to mv friends and paiticularly to you who know 
my old, giateful'and sincere affection. Blessed as I have lately 
been with the welcome, and conscious, as it is my happy lot 
to be, of the affection and confidence of all partiei and all 





62 

men in every party within the United States, feelings which 
I most cordially reciprocate, 1 ever have thought myself 
bound to avoid taking any part in local or personal divisions. 
Indeed, if l thought that in these matters my influence could 
be of any avail, it should t>e solely exerted to deprecate, not 
by far, the free, republican, and full discussion ot principles 
and candidates, but those invidious slanders which, although 
they are happily repelled by the good sense, the candor, and 
in domestic instances, by the delicacy of the American peo¬ 
ple, tend to give abroad incorrect and disparaging impressions. 
Yet, that line of conduct from which I must not deviate ex¬ 
cept in imminent cases now out of the question, does not 
imply a forgetfulness of facts nor a refusal to state them oc¬ 
casionally. My remembrance concurs with your own on 
this point, that in the latter end of December, either before 
$Y after my visit to Annapolis, you being out of the presi¬ 
dential candidature, and after having expressed my above- 
mentioned motives of forbearance, I, by way of a confiden¬ 
tial exception, allowed myself to put a simple unqualified 
question, respecting your electioneering guess, and your in¬ 
tended vote. Your answer was that in your opinion, the ae- 
tual state of health of Mr. Crawford had limited the contest 
to a choice between Mr. Adams and Gen. Jackson, that a 
claim founded on military achievements did not meet your 
preference, and that you had concluded to vote for Mr. 
Adams. Such has been, if not the literal wording, at least 
the precise sense of a conversation which it would have been 
inconsistent for me to carry farther and not to keep a secret, 
while a recollection of it, to assist your memory I should not 
now deny, not only to you as my friend, but to any man in 
a similar situation. Present my affectionate respects to Mrs. 
Clay—remember me to all your family, and to our friends in 
Washington. I will write by the same packet to the Presi¬ 
dent. Believe me forever your sincere obliged friend, 

LAFAYETTE. 


# 


(C.) 

Rockville, Nov. 3, 1827. 

Dear Sir: —You requested me to state the expressions used 
by Gen. Call, on his way to Congress in 1824, touching the con¬ 
templated vote of Mr. Clay for president. In the annexed 
statement I have complied with your request. There was much 
other conversation, but I have confined myself strictly to your 
inquiry. Respectfully, your obedient servant, 

B. S. Forrest, Esq. JOHN BRADDOCK. 


63 


Rockville, Montgomery County, Md. Nov. 3, 1827. 

In the fa!' of the year 1 824, I saw Gen. Call and several other 
gentlemen, members of Congress, on their way to Washington, 
at a tavern in Rockville; they were conversing on the subject of 
the presidential election, and when the vote which Mr. Clay 
would probably give was spoken of, Gen. Call declared that 
the friends of Gen. Jackson did not expect Mr. Clay to vote 
for him, and if he did so, it would be an act of duplicity on his 
part. JOHN BRADDOCK. 

In stating the declaration of Gen. Call on the subject of Mr. 
Clay’s vote I have omitted an expletive which should have been 
introduced before the word duplicity. Save that, the foregoing 
is literally his language, J. B. 

Philadelphia, October 2, 1827. 

Sir: —In answer to yours of yesterday’s date requesting me 
lo state to you the particulars of some remarks which you 
were informed I had heard General Jackson use on the subject 
of the Presidential election. I have to state that on my way 
down the Ohio from Wheeling to Cincinnati, in the month 
March 1825, on board of the steamboat General Neville among 
many other passengers, were Gen. Jackson and a number of 
of gentlemen from Pennsylvania, some of whom remarked to 
the General, that they regretted that he had not been elected 
President instead of Mr. .Adams. General Jackson replied, 
that if he would have made the same promises and offers to 
Mr. Clay, that Mr. Adams had done, he (Gen. Jackson) would 
then, in that case, been in the Presidential chair, but he would 
make no promises to any: that if he went to the Presidential 
chair, he would go with clean hands and uncontrolled by 
any one. These remarks were made by Gen. Jackson in the 
hearing of Mr. James Parker, of Chester county—Mr. Wm. 
Crowsdill of this city, and myself, and a number of other gen¬ 
tlemen unknown to me. 

I am with respect, yours, &,c. 

DANIEL LARGE. 

Samuel Wetherill, Esq. 


Philadelphia, October 5, 1827. 
The statement made by Mr. Dan. Large in the prefixed let¬ 
ter, is a faithful account of General Jackson’s conversation on 
the occasion alluded to. WM. CROWSDILL. 



64 


In the winter of 1 826-7, Mr. Thomas Sloan of Brownsville, 
Pa., in my bar-room, respecting the election of the President 
of the United States and of the corrupt bargain and intrigue 
which procured his selection, expressed his opinion ?o be that 
such practices had been resorted to by Mr. Clay and his friends, 
and justified his belief, by stating that Gen. Jackson had inform¬ 
ed him so, in a conversation with him at Brownsville, and which 
was in substance the same since communicated to the public 
by Gen. Jackson. I further certify, that 1 lately wrote to Mr. 
Sloan, requesting him to give a certificate of Gen. Jackson’s 
statement to him, but have not received his answer. 

RICHARD SIMMS. 

Wheeling, Dec. 19, 1827. 


In the winter of 1 826-7, Mr. Thomas Sloan of Brownsville, 
m a conversation in my presence, respecting the election of 
the present president of the United States, and the corrupt 
bargain and intrigue which procured his election, expressed his 
opinion to be that such practices had been resorted to by Mr. 
Clay, and justified his belief by relating a conversation which 
he had on that subject wfith Gen. Jackson at Brow'nsviile, on 
his return home from Washington. af(er the election. Mr. 
Sloan rehearsed at length the statement made to him bv the 
General, and which was in substance the same communicated 
to the public by Gen. Jackson. Mr. Sloan further said that a 
company, of which he was one, had met the General near to 
Brownsville, and escorted him into town, which was the occa¬ 
sion on which he had made the communication referred to. 

ALDEN R. HOWE, 

Wheeling, Va. Dec. 19, 1837. 


(E.) 

MR. BRENT’S STATEMENT. 

(See Nile^s Register , volume 28, page 25.) 
j From the National Journal .—It appears that previous to the 
publication of the annexed statement, a copy of it was sent to 
Mr. Kremer by Mr. Brent, with a request that he would ex¬ 
amine it, and il he discovered any inaccuracies, suggest such 
alterations as he should deem necessary. February 25, 1825. 

J state without hesitation, that on the day on which the de¬ 
bate took place in the House of Representatives, on the pro¬ 
position to refer Mr. Clay’s communication respecting 4 , Mr. 
Kremer’s card” to a committee, I heard Mr. Kremer declare 
at the fire place, in the lobby of the House of Representatives, 




in a manner and language which I believed sincere, that he 
never intended to charge Mr. Clay with corruption or dishonor 
in his intended vote for Mr. Adams as President, or that he had 
transferred, or could transfer the votes or interest of his 
Iriends; that he (Mr. Kremer) was among the last men in the 
nation to make such a charge against Mr. Clay, and that his 
(Mr. Kremer’s) letter never was intended to convey the ideas 
given to it. The substance of the above conversation I im¬ 
mediately communicated to Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Hemphill, 
of Pennsylvania, and Mr. Dwight of Massachusetts, of the 
House of Representatives. WM. BRENT, (of Lou.) 

I was present, and heard the observations, as above stated,- 
in a conversation between Mr. Brent and Mr. Kremer. 

PETER LITTLE, (of Md.) 

Mr. Digges, who was present when the conversation refer¬ 
red to took place, has affirmed the truth of Mr. Brent’s state¬ 
ment as follows; March 1, 1825. 

In the National Journal I perceive my name mentioned, as 
to a conversation which took place in the lobby of the House 
of Representatives, between Mr. Brent ol Louisiana, and Mr. 
Kremer, and I feel no hesitation in saying Mr. Brent’s state¬ 
ment in the paper of this dav, is substantially correct. 

WILLIAM DUDLEY DIGGES. 


Extract from a letter from Joseph Kent, Governor of Mary¬ 
land, to a gentleman of Frankfort, Ky. dated 

Rosemont, May 15th, 1827. 

“I have seen so little of late from your state upon the subject 
of politics, that Ido not know whether the violence of the op¬ 
position to the present administration lias extended itseifamong 
you or not. Our friend Mr. Clay appears to be the chief object 
of persecution with the opposition. They are with great in¬ 
dustry conducting a systematical attack upon him which com¬ 
menced with the Kremer story, which was an entire fubrica^ 
tion. At the time the plot opened I was a member of the House 
of Representatives and heard Kremer declare he never de¬ 
signed to charge Mr. Clay with any thing dishonorable in his 
life. The old man, naturally honest, was imposed on at that 
time by a powerful influence, and constrained to act his part 
in an affair, which from beginning to end, was as mu-h a fic¬ 
tion as the Merry Wives of Windsor or the School for Scan¬ 
dal. The attack on Mr. Clay during the late session of Con¬ 
gress, by General Saunders, as far as I could judge from the 
debate as published, proved an entire abortion, and I hardly 



60 


know which surprised me most, the folly of the attack, or the 
inconsistency of the General. You have seen, no doubt, that 
Mr. F. Johnson stated in his reply to Gen. Saunders, that at 
the time of the Presidential election in the House of Repre¬ 
sentatives, he, Gen. S. was decidedly in lavor of Mr. Adams 
in preference to Gen. Jackson. In confirmation of what Mr. 
Johnson has stated, 1 well remember that not ten minutes be¬ 
fore the election General Saunders came to me, with an anx¬ 
ious countenance, discovering deep concern indeed, and used 
these emphatic words—“I hope to God you may be able to 
terminate the election on the first ballot, for fear we from North 
Carolina may be forced to vote for Gen. Jackson.” North 
Carolina, you know, voted in the House of Representatives 
for Mr. Crawford, whose prospect of success was hopeless, al¬ 
though the electors of that state gave their votes in favor of 
General Jackson. Knowing the deep interest you have always 
taken in Mr. Clay’s welfare, I have been induced to give you 
for your personal satisfaction, these particulars. Mr. Clay I 
have known intimately for sixteen years; his public career is 
completely identified with every event of the country from that 
period to the present time, whether in peace or war. During 
the late war 1 have seen the House of Representatives, after 
having gone out of Committee of the whole, return to it again, 
for the sole purpose of affording Mr. Clay an opportunity (then 
Speaker) of putting down the desperate and infuriated advo- 
catts of British tyranny, insult and injury. But his enemies 
say Mr. Adams bargained with him. This assertion is without 
proof, and is destitute of truth, as it is of manly frankness. His 
superior qualifications placed him in the Department of State, 
and history furnishes no instance when so superior a man ever 
had to bargain for a high station, for which his peculiar fitness 
was evident to every one. In Maryland the Administration is 
daily gaining ground, and by the time the election occurs, I 
hope we shall be able to present an undivided front in their sup¬ 
port.” 


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